On October 6, the Government presented the bill for the General State Budgets (PGE) of 2023. In general terms, these are budgets that follow the line of previous years, with a regionalizable public investment (which can be distributed among the different autonomous communities) of 2,309 million euros for Catalonia.
This is a figure 3.1% higher than that of 2022; and a weight on the total regionalizable investment forecast in Spain of 17.2%, closer to the target of 19% (the weight that Catalonia represents on the GDP of the State as a whole) than in the Budgets of the previous decade (ranging between 9.5% and 13.4%) but still below the target level.
However, the figures for investment actually executed are very different. The investment settled in Catalonia over the total that can be regionalized in the State in the last six years (2015-2021) stands at an annual average of 10.8%. In 2021 it represented a worsening of the situation, and the weight of the investment settled in Catalonia fell significantly compared to previous years (9.0%).
In short, if the percentage of budgeted investment in Catalonia is at a lower level (but relatively close) to the relative weight that would correspond to it in terms of GDP, the differential in terms of execution is much higher.
In the absence of any transfer of the money not finally invested by the State to the Generalitat, it must be concluded that the State Budgets have no real value as a response from the State Government to the investment deficit in Catalonia.
The 2023 General Budget project announces a chronification of the low levels of real investment detected in 2021. Among all the documentation associated with the project, the forecast investment figures for 2022 for public companies and foundations are provided, including Adif, which manages large railway infrastructure projects and represents an important part of the investment in infrastructure projects.
In the case of this public company (Adif-Alta Velocidad is excluded from this analysis) in 2022 only 174 million euros are expected to be executed, 20.5% of what was initially planned in the PGE-2022. We set our sights on Adif not only due to a question of the amount of planned investment, but also because the Rodalies plan It currently represents the great project underway in our territory and which has been pending for many years.
However, the pace of tenders and awards associated with the Rodalies plan is in line with what is foreseen in its program of immediate actions, and based on what will have to begin to materialize, in the next 2-3 years, in (now yes) high investment figures. Rodalies users are experiencing this reality on a daily basis, with a whole set of plays that are generating the corresponding set of affectations in the service.
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At this point, it would be time to formulate the following question to the State Government: are the General State Budgets realistic and do they have feasible projects behind them, which allow the objective established at the time to be met in the third additional provision?
On the contrary, It is essential to promote large infrastructure projects for Catalonia. And we have a long to-do list. At the Chamber we have already presented what we consider to be a priority, for which promotion and processing must be guaranteed, without further interruptions or delays.