The Generalitat has closed an agreement with the Government of Spain that will allow Catalonia to receive 914 million for infrastructures.
It is a pact that ERC reached with the PSOE in exchange for approving the past State’s general budgets. This protocol will be signed the same day as the North Round (B-40)which was provided for in an agreement reached to approve the Budgets of the Generalitat de Catalunya in 2023 Thanks to the favorable vote of PSC.
Weeks ago, the Ronda Nord protocol was finished, an agreement that should have been closed in the spring, but it was not until the arrival of Esther Capella as new regional councilor that it has been possible to agree. his predecessor, Juli Fernandezit was a historical opponent to this infrastructure, which he had already rejected as mayor of Sabadell.
For its part, the Government of the Generalitat had also demanded that the 914 million protocol be signed. The signing of both protocols is expected to be done before the election campaign.
These 914 million are distributed as follows: performances in the Maresme (384 million); N-260, that runs through the Pyrenees from Aragon to the Empordà, (260 million); connections AP7-AP2 (250 million) and rail interchanges of Rodalies-FGC (20 million).
The B-40 runs aground
Refering to North Roundthe Generalitat has achieved that it is not considered a high capacity road; that it be recognized that it is a road that runs between Terrassa and Sabadellwithout continuity beyond, as established by the Vallès Special Mobility Plan and? The State pays for it with its own budget. (and not with the third additional provision as the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda wanted).
First planned in the 1960s with the intention of creating a second metropolitan crown road that connects Vilafranca del Penedès and Mataró passing through the Vallès Oriental and Occidental, until today it has only been possible to advance in small stretchesin many cases with social opposition.
It is precisely in the section that ran aground between the two co-capitals of Vallès Occidental in the recent pact between the Government and the State that has always been focus of conflict, both politically and territorially.
In it political plane There have been continuous disagreements between the Government and the State both in the layout of the road and when it comes to financing it. In the end, the project that will go ahead is less ambitious than the one initially proposed by the Spanish government, but the Socialists manage to make those six kilometers between Terrassa and Sabadell a reality.
Although since CKD have historically been against the expansion of the infrastructure, they had recently changed their political position in the context of the negotiations of the already approved regional budgets, so that they have finally given green light to project the expansion through a technical study.
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However, paradoxically, the local republican sections have demonstrated under the umbrella of the Campanya Contra el Quart Cinturó (CCQC) and have rejected any attempt to continue the infrastructure. After weeks of negotiations, on January 26ERC, PSC, Junts, C’s, PP and Vox voted in favor of extending the ‘Fourth Belt’. For their part, the mayors of Sabadell (Marta Farres, PSC) and Terrassa (Jordi Ballart, Tot per Terrassa) also support the expansion of infrastructure.
The conflicting section aims to continue the highway C-58 and create the named ‘North Round. The latter would join the highway Castellar del Valles (B-124), ensuring the continuity of the Vallesana orbital highway. The supporters of the project allege that the connection would allow the decongestion of the Gran Via and, consequently, would reduce the pollution levels. On the other hand, ecologists denounce that the infrastructure would alter the biosphere and the environment of cities.