The Government will assume 100% of the cost of the reconstruction of municipal infrastructure affected by DANA in Valencia. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Thursday that the central Executive will contribute an extraordinary amount to cover the expenses of the affected town councils, after a meeting with the 28 mayors of the municipalities that are still at level 2 of emergency.
The president has reported that the public company TRAGSA estimates the damage to municipal infrastructure at 1.7 billion euros, ranging from nursery schools to markets, day centers and sports centers. There are approximately 100 administrative centers, 45 nursery schools or 58 libraries, he estimated. The reconstruction of “any citizen service facility that is in charge of the city councils” will be undertaken, the president has promised. In addition, the Ministry of Ecological Transition will assume the cost of the reconstruction of treatment plants, sanitation installation and supply of the integral water cycle, adding 500 million euros to the package of 16,000 million euros in aid already approved.
Sánchez has guaranteed that the Executive “is doing the unspeakable” to accelerate aid, although he has stated that he understands the citizens’ discomfort. However, he pointed out that the Government has processed more than 305,000 of the 361,000 requests for aid and compensation received, with a total of 1.6 billion euros paid, and that it has already paid approximately half: “We are doing everything possible to pay the rest as soon as possible,” he pointed out, while insisting that the Government makes every effort to rebuild infrastructure and deploy the social shield, with “unpublished aid” such as housing advances or funds from the Tax Agency. However, he pointed out: “We are very aware that all this is not enough, that there is much left to do.”
Regarding the new infrastructures, a task that the public company TRAGSA will assume, he commented that they will seek to make them better than the existing ones to date: “We will have to make this reconstruction more resilient, we will have to adapt to a climate reality to guarantee safety. “, he pointed out, insisting that “the Government of Spain is not going to look away from Valencia, it is going to be alongside the Valencians.” Sánchez and nine other ministers have met with the 28 mayors of the municipalities that still remain at a high level of emergency, who have expressed their concerns about the aid, the lack of liquidity and the deadlines for processing the aid. The president has highlighted the predisposition of the mayors “of all political stripes” to work together and has thanked them for their “constructive attitude”, something that he demands from the opposition in Congress. There was no representation from the Generalitat Valenciana at the meeting, although Sánchez has said that he will be “delighted” to meet with Mazón.
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