After 20 years of uncertainty and neighborhood disappointments, the Consorci de la Mina definitively approved yesterday the expropriation plan for the Venus block and announced the neighborhood transformation project, which will have new housing buildings, schools and even a building for a large administrative complex of the Generalitat, the first to be built outside of Barcelona.
The Minister of Social Rights, Carles Campuzano; the general secretary of the ministry, Oriol Amorós, and the mayoress of Sant Adrià de Besòs, Filo Cañete, announced yesterday the commitments made to start the expropriations of the Venus block, which affect 244 flats and 15 premises, distributed in six steps. An action that the councilor described as “the most important expropriation in the history of Catalonia”. Once all the residents have been relocated, the block will be demolished, an action that will be carried out in 2028.
The government of the Consorci de la Mina has increased the valuations of the flats between 97,450 and 121,514 euros and has increased the compensation for transfers. It will also compensate non-owners. In this case, a home is guaranteed to all vulnerable families in the Venus block. “Before the summer, 60 families from La Mina will have a new home”, said the minister. However, flats occupied by drug mafias and other illegal activities will be excluded. So far, 31 residents have notified their willingness to accept the compensation. The Consortium is also ready to start the first 30 rehousing families.
The neighborhood plan, which Drets Social defines as “La Mine with a future”, proposes numerous changes that will transform one of the poorest neighborhoods in Catalonia.
The Generalitat will grant a new centrality to the Mine with the construction of a new building planned for 2030, which will house a large administrative complex of the Catalan Government, “the first outside of Barcelona”, highlighted Campuzano.
Similarly, within two years, the construction of 70 official protection flats is planned to rehouse the families of the block. At the same time, 250 flats are being promoted on three plots belonging to the Generalitat, three promotions of affordable homes to buy “that will rejuvenate the composition of the neighbourhood”, assured Amorós.
The remodeling of the Casal Cívic de la Mina, a neighborhood demand, will also be carried out with Next Generation resources from the European Union.
A new school will be built on the site resulting from the demolition of the Venus block. “The neighborhood only has one and many families take their children outside,” explained the secretary. In the same way, the construction of a new nursery, planned in the medium term, is considered as a space that will allow “to regenerate the human composition of the neighborhood”, said Amorós.
The Social Rights Department’s commitment to the well-being of the elderly in La Mina involves a new model of housing with services for the elderly.
These buildings will be accompanied by a day center, spaces for active and community ageing, care services and integrated, social and health activities. Initially, it is planned to project between 50 and 70 flats with services, two long-stay care coexistence units with 16 places and other services, buildings that have long been vindicated by the mayoress.
The promotion of sports activities as a vehicle for integration plays a key role in the transformation of the Mina district. In this sense, a project led by the Catalan Wrestling Federation and the Unió de Federacions Esportives de Catalunya (UFEC) will position the Mina neighborhood as an international reference center for Olympic wrestling.
