Feijóo proposes a plan of 12,000 million for recovery after DANA, a figure far from the damage estimates

The president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has presented to Valencian businessmen his plan for the reconstruction of Valencia after the DANA on October 29. The conservative leader undertakes to demand from the Government an investment of 12,000 million euros in industry, infrastructure and resource management for the recovery of the affected regions, to be carried out in 10 years for the entire autonomous community as a way of guaranteeing that it returns to the pre-flood economic levels.

Feijóo has demanded million-dollar aid for water management infrastructure, city drainage, infrastructure, industrial areas and estates, housing, ports; also for l’Albufera or for pollution control measures, waste management and, especially, prevention of future floods. The leader has pointed out that the objective is to “guarantee that something similar cannot happen again” and has highlighted that “it is not only to rebuild what the water destroyed, but to try to ensure that the blow does not stop the expectations that this town had before.” of the DANA.”

The investment, which he has defined as “the largest in history for the Valencian Community in a specific period” practically implies an annual disbursement identical to that budgeted in the latest state accounts. The General State Budgets for 2023, extended in 2024, reflected an investment of 1,239 million euros in infrastructure for the Valencian Community, although the leader has indicated that they are not met in their execution. His proposal is, according to his calculations, “double the actual investment executed” by the central government. Feijóo also recalled the financing problems of the autonomy, at the bottom of Spain, and pointed out: “This cannot be solved with crumbs, but with a new financing system.”

The amount, revealed by the leader of the popular parties in an event with the president of the employers’ association, Salvador Navarro, and that of the Council of Chambers of the Valencian Community, José Vicente Morata, is well below the estimates made to date. Even about the estimate made by the president of the Generalitat Valenciana and leader of the Valencian PP, Carlos Mazón, who a week after the floods demanded 31,000 million euros in aid and investments from the central government, and committed another 400 million from the Valencian regional coffers. . In roads and railway infrastructure alone, the working group between the Ministry of Transport and the Generalitat estimated 2.6 billion in damages. In small committee, some businessmen consider that what Feijóo promised is a small budget.

The Mazón Executive quickly developed a plan, which it called ‘recuperem València’, in which it quantified the necessary aid and investments at 31.4 billion euros and claimed it from the central government. This plan includes, for example, 100 million euros for sports infrastructure, 250 million to recover residences and day centers, 22 million euros in housing -including 25 million for refurbishing SAREB properties-, 2,200 million for judicial infrastructure damaged, 108 million to repair health centers, more than 350 million in infrastructure and school equipment, 340 million in agricultural infrastructure, 2,200 million in actions in affected ravines and rivers. Mazón included in that plan the cost of direct aid or the Valencian inclusion income.

The Valencian Institute of Economic Research (IVIE) estimates the damage caused by the floods and ravines to be at least 17,000 million euros, almost 20% of the assets of the 85 affected municipalities. “It is very important that at least the 17 billion destruction is taken into account and that the aid plugs that hole, that it is rapid and proportional to the damage, and with the capacity to replace the lost capital stock,” said the deputy director of the IVIE, who requested that direct aid cover at least that amount to be able to reach the point of origin.

Feijóo has pointed out that to his investment plan, which he will present in Congress, it is necessary to “add 10,000 million that, with this investment, would generate the GDP directly.” “Therefore, we could say that the Valencia Plan will generate 30,000 million direct GDP, 450,000 jobs and 7,600 million in tax revenue in the economy as a whole.”

Businessmen demand more speed

Previously, the representatives of Valencian businessmen have demanded “effective help, institutional support and strong leadership” to face the reconstruction with “urgency and determination” and have warned that the resources allocated so far by the different administrations “continue to fall short of to the dimension of the damages.” “They are still far from what companies need to make the decision to move forward,” they stressed.

The president of the CEV has stated that “without going into the human damages, for the entire productive fabric there are an estimated 13.7 billion [de impacto de la DANA]”, a figure that represents 20% of the regional GDP, and there are nearly 236,000 compensation files, which “represent much more than a number, they are life and business projects abruptly interrupted and that need to be rebuilt with urgency and determination, something we are not seeing until now.”

For his part, the president of the Chamber of Valencia has stressed: “It is not only about repairing the damage caused as quickly as possible, the objective has to be to take advantage of the reconstruction to invest in water, technological and energy infrastructures that provide this community of leadership that allows its economy to compensate for the losses suffered,” he stated.