The business sector on the Costa Tropical is mightily miffed with the socialist Central Government over a possible Granada-to-Motril rail connection.
The truth is it doesn’t matter whether it’s a conservative or socialist cabinet guiding the nation, the excuse is always the same: it’s too expensive. Well, you can imagine the reaction of the business sector including the Motril-Port authorities on the Costa Tropical when the Central Government recently announced that they were going to build a new line between Santander and Bilbao, costing 2,500m euros, which the Government hopes to be included in the Trans-European Transport Network; i.e., EU Funding. If they can’t get EU funding, they will find the funds elsewhere.
Madrid quite happily funded a study on six alternative routes whereas Granada had to finance their feasibility study using the University of Granada.
The fact is that the cost of building a rail connection between Granada and Motril Port costs more or less the same than the Central Government is willing to pay for the northern project, despite the fact that Motril Port is the only major port in Spain without a rail connection. Bilbao Port already has a rail connection as does Santander’s port.
The question is, how can the Central Government justify an expensive rail connection between Bilbao and Santander, both port cities, whilst claiming that connecting Motril Port is too expensive, when it will cost virtually the same?
When the University of Granada drew up the feasibility study they calculated that it would cost between 2,467m and 2.647m euros and the journey between Granada and Motril would take approximately 37 minutes. The northern project will cost 2,500m euros.
The Chairman of the Port Authority for Motril Port, José García Fuentes, will have a meeting in Madrid on the 11th of April to discuss the situation because time is a premium as the EU will vote on which projects to include in May. You cannot underestimate the importance of Motril Port because it is one of Europe’s southern doorways to the continent for goods, etc coming across the Mediterranean.
It really does seem that the Province of Granada is the ugly sister when it comes to placing institutions and resources; recently, despite Granada having better marks than anybody for the Agencia de Inteligencia Artificial to be housed in our province, the Central Government gave it to Galicia. When the opposition demanded to see the election criteria result, Madrid kept stalling, so they literally took them to court in order to force them to publish the findings. When they gave in and did it, the excuse was that Granada did not have sufficient air connectivity, despite the fact of the proximity of Málaga Airport to back up Granada Airport. Air connectivity concerns weren’t even mentioned for the winning candidate city, Coruña in Galicia, despite it having a poorer one.
Yet, just days after, the Government announced that it had signed an agreement with ADIA Lab, the Abu-Dhabi-based research institute dedicated to data and computational sciences, which will see ADIA Lab establish its European headquarters in Granada. Obviously, reporters asked Sra. Carme Artigas, Secretary of State, why the UAE considered Granada to be optimum for its European HQ yet the Government does not consider Granada apt for the Agencia de Inteligencia Artificial.
She replied that the Government was free to decide where it wishes to establish such institutions. Could it be that both the Basque (Bilbao) and Cantabrian (Santander) regional governments are allies and the General Elections are this autumn?
(News: Granada, Andalucia)