After 20 years of uncertainties and neighborhood disappointments, the Mina neighborhood Consortium yesterday definitively approved the expropriation plan for the Venus block and announced the transformation project for the Sant Adrià de Besòs neighborhood (Barcelonès Nord), which will have new residential buildings, schools and even a building for a large administrative complex of the Generalitat, which for the first time will be built outside of Barcelona.
The Minister of Social Rights, Carles Campuzano, the Secretary General of the Ministry, Oriol Amorós and the Mayor of Sant Adrià de Besòs, Filo Cañete, announced yesterday the commitments acquired to begin the expropriations of the Venus block, which affect 244 apartments and 15 premises, distributed in six stairs. An action that the councilor described as “the largest expropriation in the history of Catalonia.” Once all the neighbors have been relocated, the block will be demolished. A performance that will take place in 2028.
The Consorci de la Mina government has increased the valuations of the apartments between 97,450 and 121,514 euros and has increased compensation for transfers. It will also compensate those who are not owners. In this case, housing 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 councilor. However, apartments occupied by drug mafias and other illicit activities will be excluded. To date, 31 neighbors have notified their willingness to benefit from compensation. The Consortium is also ready to start the first 30 family relocations.
The neighborhood plan that Drets Socials defines as “La Mina with a future” proposes numerous changes that will transfigure one of the poorest neighborhoods in Catalonia. The Generalitat will give a new centrality to La Mina with the construction of a new building scheduled for 2030, which will house a large administrative complex of the Catalan government. “The first outside of Barcelona,” Campuzano highlighted.
Likewise, within two years, the construction of 70 officially protected apartments is planned to relocate the families of the block. In parallel, 250 apartments are being promoted on three plots of the Generalitat. Three promotions of affordable housing for purchase “that will rejuvenate the composition of the neighborhood,” said 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,” said the secretary. Likewise, the construction of a new daycare center, planned in the medium term, is seen as a space that will allow “the human composition of the neighborhood to be regenerated,” Amorós said.
The commitment of the Department of Social Rights towards the well-being of the elderly, in La Mina will establish a new model of housing with services for the elderly. Buildings that will be accompanied by a day center, spaces for active and community aging, healing services and integrated, social and health actions. Initially, it is proposed to project between 50 and 70 apartments with services, two coexistence units for long-term care with 16 beds, as well as other services. Some buildings that have been long claimed by the mayor, Filo Cañete.
In the transformation of the Mina neighborhood, the promotion of sports activities as a vehicle for integration has a key role. In this sense, in a project led by the Catalan Wrestling Federation and the Unión de Federacions Esportives de Catalunya (UFEC) they will position the neighborhood of La Mina as a center of reference for Olympic Wrestling at an international level.