The Minister of Transport, Rachel Sanchezassured in Barcelona that “two out of every five euros” of the European funds earmarked for the railway in Catalonia are earmarked for surroundings. Sánchez, who has participated in a conference on sustainable mobility organized by EL PERIÓDICO, has assured that his department has already mobilized 60% of the funds from Europe and has highlighted the commitment to “the promotion of the railway in Catalonia”. in turn has announced the launch of a second call in the recovery plan for low emission zones (ZBE) and transport transformation for municipalities of 500 million euros more to complete the total of 1,500 million “to turn cities into healthier, safer and more friendly spaces with mobility policies”.
In the session, in which the general secretary of the Vice-Presidency and of Digital Policies and Territory also spoke, Ricard Fontresponses to an indisputable social reality have been discussed: the need to configure a more efficient transport model that improves the competitiveness of the productive system, that facilitates the integration of citizens, increases the quality of life, does not compromise health and contributes more security.
In the session, sponsored and supported by Cellnex, Abertis, Cepsa, the Generalitat and Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) and the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, Minister Sánchez pointed out that we are currently at a time when we must be clear that the ecological transition is an unquestionable urgency and transport, “one of the priority action spaces to decarbonize cities & rdquor ;. She has added that all this, together with digitization, will allow “an increase in alternatives to the private vehicle & rdquor; and, in addition, to implement “new projects such as the electric car, batteries, recharging structures, drones or micro-mobility or shared mobility solutions”.
Meeting these challenges has required a regulatory framework and, for this reason, Sánchez has indicated that the new Sustainable Mobility Law has meant a “radical change of approach & rdquor; that guarantees the mobility of all citizens as a right. In addition, through the measures contemplated by the law, as explained by the minister, “inefficiencies in the spending of public institutions that have been quantified at 8,000 million euros in a year” will be reduced, the productivity of companies will increase ” by 2.3% over a period of 10 years” and, with regard to the competence framework, it will also have positive effects.
Beyond direct investment, Sánchez has insisted on the “1,000 million grants for low-emission zones and the transformation of transport for local entities” that, already in the first call in Catalonia, “more than 200 million euros of aid have been obtained for 41 city councils and the Barcelona metropolitan area”. He has guaranteed the transfer to the Generalitat of “155 million euros for the transformation of mobility within the scope of its powers & rdquor; .
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In relation to the calls for companies, he explained that “a subsidy of 580 million euros will be offered throughout Spain & rdquor ;, with the intention of promoting sustainable freight transport and, in addition, “the transfer to the Generalitat of 22 million euros euros to subsidize the renewal of transport fleets and roads”, yes, without leaving aside the main message and that is that “for each user who decides to abandon the vehicle and uses public transport, CO2 emissions are reduced by 60 % per kilometer traveled & rdquor ;.
For his part, Ricard Font, who closed the conference, stressed that “there are no universal solutions, only singular ones” to decarbonise cities. Barcelona, he has added, is not surrounded by dormitory cities, as in the case of Madrid, which deserves ad hoc solutions. He has highlighted that public resources and public-private collaboration will be necessary. Regarding solutions such as payment for use or payment for polluting, he has defended that the resources obtained by the first way go to infrastructure maintenance and the second, to invest in public transport.