New controversy between the Badalona government (Barcelonès Nord) and the opposition. On this occasion, ERC accuses the executive led by Xavier Garcia Albiol of having lost 60 apartments for young people “due to the inability of the PP government to manage the European Next Generation Funds.”
The Republicans affirm that in January 2024 the Agència de l’Habitatge de Catalunya requested from the Badalona City Council a request for the construction of 60 homes for young people under 35 years of age and other groups on Antoni Bori street, in the Gorg neighborhood. . The project, agreed in 2023 between the Ministry, the Generalitat and the City Council, had a budget of more than eight million euros, with 1.5 million in European funds.
From ERC they assure that the Agency requested the request from the City Council, despite having exceeded the submission deadline and warned them that, if they did not present it, they would consider it “withdrawn” and that by not responding, “1.5 million were lost for the housing project “. Àlex Montornès, president of the ERC municipal group, has expressed his disappointment in considering the city’s development opportunity lost. “The inability of this government to take advantage of the work done” on issues as sensitive as housing is a shame and a responsibility. “That, yes,” says Montornès, “Albiol always lacks time to complain about the Generalitat.”
For her part, the fourth deputy mayor, Rosa del Amo, has asked ERC “to oppose, but not to deceive or make a fool of ourselves” because she assures “the project was not economically or legally viable.” The popular councilor points out that the government is defining a new project for the Antoni Bori space.
The reasons why the subsidy has not been processed, according to del Amo, is that the previous government, made up of a four-party group that included ERC, “made the proposal to opt for the subsidy without being clear about the legal criteria regarding the years.” of concession and without the instruments to execute the project having been developed”.
The project, according to del Amo, was of significant magnitude, 60 floors and 4,000 meters of ceiling, and “needed time.” At the time the grant application was submitted, he indicates that “there should have already been a team working and that was not done.” These types of subsidies, according to the popular councilor, “work well when you have an advanced project.” Furthermore, she points out that the intention of the previous government “was to make concessions for 75 years,” which contravenes the established legal criteria.
