Institutional thaw between the Ministry of Transport and the Madrid City Council, at least as far as the works of the A-5 refers. The head of the branch, Óscar Puente, and the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, agreed in a meeting held yesterday “in a cordial tone” to leave in the hands of the technicians the development of a mobility plan that includes the EMT and the Metro other means that depend on the State, such as Cercanías or the aforementioned R-5, among other solutions. This future collaborative project will be developed within the framework of the Regional Transport Consortiumwhere all the administrations involved will debate the best way to alleviate traffic problems with an eye toward December 15, when the first cuts will begin on the highway that will take two years to bury and through which 80,000 vehicles pass every day.
The appointment was set for 6:30 p.m. at the Ministry of Transport, the same one that, pretending to be the Bank of Spain, was blown up in ‘La casa de papel’. The meeting was less explosive, although both institutions had been sharing accusations (and mobility proposals) through the media for a week.
In fact, the mayor of the city, José Luis Martínez-Almeida – who attended the meeting accompanied by the delegate of Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility, Borja Carabante, and his chief of staff, Jorge Moreta – the first thing he highlighted upon leaving the same, almost an hour and a half later, was “the cordiality, institutional loyalty and willingness to solve the difficulties” of both administrations.
The mayor of the capital highlighted that they have two months to work “jointly” on a mobility plan that includes the three competent administrations as well as the affected municipalities, including Móstoles and Alcorcón. “We present a mobility plan with the alternatives that we consider appropriate but we are open to modifications and improvements,” stressed Almeida, who also indicated that he is open to adapting it even after December 15, if necessary.
The council will also bring to that negotiation table the possible free R5, a proposal that they consider “pertinent and good that it has been put on the table.” One of the angry responses from the Ministry last week was to suggest that this cost be assumed by the Community or the City Council, although yesterday at the end of the meeting José Antonio Santano, Secretary of State for Transport, was more conciliatory: “We have not closed ourselves nothing, we have asked for consensus and for all parties to be able to contribute resources and means.
Renfe reinforcement
Likewise, Santano announced that they are preparing with Renfe to reinforce the C5 Cercanías line and that he believes they will be able to make “a significant increase in the number of seats.” In this sense, one of the latest Renfe proposals that reached the media included the possibility of increasing the capacity of line C5 by 15% to up to 14,000 seats. In addition, Santano stated, they have other proposals that they will detail in this new open forum.
Although there was already a first meeting of the technicians of both institutions at the beginning of the week, Almeida highlighted, it is foreseeable that many more will take place to reach a consensus on this plan. “We understand that this committee has work ahead of it in the coming weeks or months,” said Santano on behalf of the Ministry, since the head of the branch, Óscar Puente, failed on Wednesday by Congress, did not make statements after the meeting. “From there, what we have conveyed is the intention to collaborate with all the Ministry’s means so that this work that has to be done over the next few months is as unproblematic as possible,” added the Secretary of State.
It remains to be seen if after this truce, Twitter peace also comes. “Just as a gesture now, Puente unlocks Carabante on X (Twitter),” Almeida joked. “But let’s get to what’s important, which are policies and not the Twitter thaw.”
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