Pedro Sánchez announces that the Government of Spain will assume full financing of the reconstruction costs of all municipal infrastructures affected by the DANA

The President of the Government of Spain has met with mayors of municipalities affected by the DANA, and has announced that the Executive will raise from 50% to 100% its funding commitment to rebuild all damaged infrastructures.

Government Delegation in Valencia, Valencia

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, during the press conference he held after meeting with the mayors of the municipalities affected by the DANA and with social agents (Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo)

"The Government will cover the reconstruction of any service facilities for citizens that have been affected, down to the last cent, until the last brick is laid in these municipal centres", stressed the chief executive, after chairing the Interministerial Commission on the DANA and the meeting he held with social partners to address the needs of workers and employers in the affected areas.

The total cost of the affected municipal infrastructures will be financed with more than €1.7 billion of investment by the Government, and will have a special impact on the recovery of nearly 100 administrative centres, 45 children's schools, 58 libraries, 55 sports centres, 40 day centres and up to 16 markets and wholesale markets, which will be rebuilt with structural resilience criteria to cope with future climate emergency events.

Pedro Sánchez also announced that the Government will cover 100% of the costs of rebuilding water supply, sanitation and treatment infrastructures, once the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge has collected all the requests from operators and local councils.

"We estimate a total investment of €500 million, which will fully cover the costs of action in the integral water cycle in each and every one of the municipalities affected," said the chief executive.

Highest recognition for the work of mayors and mayoresses

Meeting of the President and several members of the Government of Spain with mayors of towns affected by the DANA| Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

The President of the Government of Spain stressed the importance of the "titanic work" done by the mayors. "They are the ones who are on the front line, alongside the affected residents, responding to their demands and attending to their most immediate needs", stressed Pedro Sánchez, who expressed his utmost appreciation for the work of the municipal councillors in areas affected by the DANA.

Likewise, the chief executive emphasised the Government's efforts to listen to the main concerns and urgencies of the mayors and mayors' offices affected, and to see them at first hand. "We take good note of the most immediate demands; of the most direct and urgent concerns of the residents of these municipalities," Sánchez said.

Firm commitment to the recovery of affected municipalities

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, and several Government ministers during the meeting they held with social stakeholders| Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

The meeting between the President of the Government of Spain with mayors and their subsequent meeting with social agents is further demonstration of the central government's firm commitment to the recovery of the territories affected by the DANA. "Our first objective is to guarantee, with all humility, but also with all conviction, that we are and will be here for as long as it takes and with all the necessary human and material resources," he assured.

The figures also support this commitment. So far, the Government of Spain has approved three Royal Decrees to mobilise more than €16.6 billion for the recovery of the affected municipalities. Of the 361,000 applications received, the government has already processed more than 305,000, or 85% of them, and has paid out approximately half, amounting to some €1.6 billion in aid and compensation.

"We are doing everything possible to pay the rest of the aid as soon as possible; and to rebuild infrastructures and deploy a social shield to alleviate the damage caused to the Valencian social and economic fabric", said Sánchez, who insisted that "the Government of Spain is not going to look away from Valencia".

Interministerial Commission on the DANA

The meeting of the President of the Government of Spain with the mayors of the municipalities affected by the floods of 29-O took place within the framework of the Interministerial Commission on the DANA, in which the municipal councillors of the 28 localities that suffered most intensely from the floods took part.

The meeting of the Interministerial Commission was also attended by the three vice-presidents of the Government, and by a broad representation of the ministers of the Executive with direct responsibility for the issues that most affect the recovery work in the municipalities affected by the DANA.

Non official translation

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• Aid from the Immediate Response, Reconstruction and Relaunching Plan

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• DANA (Isolated Depression at High Levels)
• Government of Spain