“Today we signed a framework agreement to start a proposal that will generate very relevant economic development in Gran Canaria, in the next four years,” says Antonio Morales.
The total investment will finance 428 projects that will be executed in the 19 municipalities of the Island that have agreed on the proposal with the Island Government.
The insular Corporation estimates that the implementation of these initiatives will mean the creation of around 14.000 jobs in Gran Canaria
The president of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, has signed today with the mayors of 19 municipalities on the Island the agreements of the Canary Islands Development Fund (Fdcan), with which the island Government commits an investment of 509 million euros, for the execution of 428 actions aimed at materializing the Island Socioeconomic Development Program of Gran Canaria 2023-2027, with the purpose of transforming the reality of Gran Canaria in the economic, social and environmental fields.
President Morales, who was accompanied by the Minister of Institutional Cooperation, Carmelo Ramírez, and by the mayor of Agüimes and commissioner of the Canarian Federation of Municipalities (Fecam), Óscar Hernández, highlighted that this investment will launch initiatives that, According to all estimates, they will mean the creation of around 14.000 jobs throughout Gran Canaria.
“We are facing an important program, which is added to others that the Cabildo executes each year with the municipalities, such as the Cooperation Plan with the City Councils, the financially sustainable investment plans and the sports, socio-health, roads, and tourism sectoral plans. and industry and commerce, among many others,” said the island president. “Therefore, today we signed a framework agreement to initiate a proposal that will generate very relevant economic development in Gran Canaria, in the next four years,” he said.
He also placed special emphasis on the consensus that the Island Corporation has reached with the local governments of Gran Canaria, since, as he stressed, "this is the only Island that chose this formula of working in a coordinated manner with its town councils."
At this point, he referred to the two municipalities that, at the time, decided not to join this joint proposal, “but the 19 remaining town councils of Gran Canaria are the ones that have opted for this to be done this way, leaving out those municipalities, which already received more than the amount that would correspond to them for the eight years of Fdcan,” he stated.
Regarding the destination of the investments, the president of Gran Canaria explained that the funds will be distributed in actions of three strategic axes: R&D&I knowledge, to which 38 million euros are allocated; support for employability, with another 72,5 million, and investments in infrastructure, to which 398,5 million are dedicated.
In this regard, he highlighted that the same strategic lines of action that supported the actions of the first phase of the Fdcan are maintained, on which he concluded that "one hundred percent has been invested and that it has been fully justified." .
First annuity funds transferred
Carmelo Ramírez stressed for his part that, after signing the agreement with the Government of the Canary Islands, the process now continues with the granting of funds to each of the local governments.
“We already have the money here,” stressed the Minister of Institutional Cooperation. The Government of the Canary Islands has already transferred to the Cabildo the annuity corresponding to the year 2023. An annuity that, as explained, is double, because the 2022 funds have been incorporated, “and at the time the agreement is signed with each municipality, We make the transfer immediately,” he added.
To this end, he insisted on the need to have all the plenary agreements and pointed out that the deadline available to justify the 2023 investments is until July 2024, as established in the agreement. And, in this sense, he specified that, in the 2023 annuity, it is allowed to justify investments made and financed entirely by the city council, in the years 2021 and 2022.
Injection of resources to improve the quality of life in municipalities
Óscar Hernández, in turn, expressed his satisfaction with the materialization of these, because they represent “an injection of maneuvering capacity for city councils, to undertake works on basic issues such as sanitation, or those linked to water management and There are also bets like there are in several municipalities aimed at energy production through photovoltaic solar, basically,” he pointed out. "In short, it is about more resources that allow us to transform the municipalities, to improve the quality of life in them."
The mayor of Agüimes and commissioner of Fecam explained that, in the case of his municipality, the most important actions are aimed at making all municipal infrastructures self-sufficient, through energy production with solar panels, and the proposal in those installations whose consumption is lower than production is to reach agreements with the neighbors who have the most need, to balance the electricity bill in those cases.
