Lambán: “Our absolute priority in terms of railway investments is the Cantabria – Mediterranean Corridor through Teruel”

“Our absolute priority in terms of railway investments to strengthen the logistics position of Aragon is the Cantabria – Mediterranean Corridor through Teruel and Zaragoza” With these words the intention of the President of Aragon, Javier Lambán, clearly stated, during the celebrations of Aragon Day in Teruel, the commitment by his Executive to these lines. He announced the presentation of joint amendments with Valencia for the General State Budget to increase the forecast allocation. Moreover, he insisted that the rest of the parties should “pull their weight” owing to the strategic nature of this investment, and support the amendments.
Lambán recalled his contacts with Valencia, right from the start of his legislature, and the commitment by the Port of Valencia, to invest 50 million euros in improving the Teruel – Valencia railway line. “Our claim is ongoing, and is a strategic, priority consideration for this corridor. We are not asking for money for a new line”, emphasised the President of the Aragon Regional Government, who also mentioned that until 2011 300 million euros were allocated for this line, and the investment was called back afterwards.
During his speech in Teruel, he also referred to logistics and the importance of investments in communications to achieve full development. “Logistics opens us on to a true motorway of development possibilities for Aragon” he pointed out, whilst also highlighting the good progress of sales at Platea and the establishment of Aragon as a major logistics platform.
The President of the Aragon Regional Government stated his concern for the Mining Basins, and indicated that the Government is studying “the specific development possibilities, town by town”. Tourism, the reform of the CAP to make it fairer, Dinópolis and snow, FITE (Teruel Investment Fund), broadband, food and agriculture or the adjudication of Alcañiz Hospital, as soon as the regional budget is approved, are other items discussed by Javier Lambán.
On the tenth anniversary of the Statute Reform, the head of the regional Executive wanted to point out the “certainties and assurance” that this regulation offers, which he qualified as “a momentous governance programme that includes a list of rights for Aragon that is more ambitious than we could have believed, and a number of imperatives to be met by the Governments of Spain and Aragon”. In this sense, he supported the Autonomy Statute to claim “fair financing” and an economic agreement (defined in Article 108) with the State, and acknowledgement of the past debt quantified at over 7,000 million euros. He also pointed out that the Statute “paves the way to settle problems such as depopulation” and urged a meeting of the Bilateral Aragon – State Commission.
“We have reasons to be optimistic about the future if we believe in ourselves. This is through the quality and talent of the people of Aragon. We are better than we think”, he ended up saying.