Two days, one in L’Aldea this Tuesday, and the other in Tortosa on Wednesday, open the participatory process of the Urban Master Plan (PDU) that must “enhance and organize” all the available land in the Catalunya Sud industrial estate, half of 675 hectares of them destined for new economic activities.
In addition to the in-person sessions, all citizens and individuals can make contributions and comments through the Generalitat’s Participa telematic portal.
The delegate of the Government in Terres de l’Ebre, Albert Salvadó, and the director of territorial services of the Territory, Miquel Alonso, have assured that the work to carry out the initial approval of the PDU before the summer and meet “ambitious deadlines” to adjust the drafting of the PDU to 18 months.
The participative process is the last step before having the Avanç document and being able to start the drafting of the new Urban Director Plan for Economic Activity (PDUAE) for the industrial area of ??South Catalonia.
After the information sessions, workshops and collecting proposals and comments through the web portal throughout the month of March, the report of conclusions will be presented to the project writing team.
The first participatory sessions will be held at the Casal de Joves de l’Aldea and at the Tortosa Museum. Territori will hold participatory workshops with all affected people, farmers and economic sectors involved.
Alonso has defended that it is necessary to “generate the maximum consensus for the implementation of the PDU” because the development of the Catalunya Sud industrial estate “is a question of territory and country” or because the PDU must have “legitimacy” for the proposed actions with “a global vision of territory”.
The 18-month deadline with which the processing of the PDU was announced is maintained, despite being “very ambitious.” The first step, once the public participation process is completed, will be the strategic environmental evaluation that, together with the initial approval document, will allow this phase of the process to be overcome before the summer.
The drafting of the environmental study, as well as those of mobility, agrarian impact and participatory process, have already been tendered and awarded in order to advance in parallel to the drafting of the Advance document. Once the initial approval is made, the PDU will have a public information period of 45 days, it must receive the sectoral reports and the hearings of the city councils, and when this procedure is passed, the final approval can be made.
The arrival of the multinational Kronospan factory, dedicated to the manufacture of chipboard for the furniture sector, has meant “an opportunity to boost this entire sector of economic activity”, a critical mass that will also allow progress in the construction of an intermodal freight station and a railway branch to the Mediterranean Corridor, to directly connect the Catalunya Sud industrial estate with the ports of Tarragona and Barcelona, ??once this urban planning instrument has been processed.
The PDUAE will organize an area of ??675 hectares in the municipalities of Tortosa and L’Aldea. Half will be allocated to companies and economic activity, and the rest to green areas and facilities. Its writing is part of the Government’s Economic Activity Land strategy and is derived from the Logistics Strategy for the Internationalization of the Catalan Economy and the National Pact for Industry.
