The Catalan Government has already begun to study the works that will be included in the second major public-private collaboration package with which the president Salvador Illa plans to accelerate the deployment of infrastructure. In this plan, which will amount to 1.5 billion euros, it could incorporate works such as the second phase of the Tarragona tram, the extension of the Barcelona tram to the north and south or works to extend the metro in the Catalan capital, according to sources from the department he directs. Before, however, the Catalan Executive wants to have the first program ready, of 1.8 billion, to award metro, highway and electric station works throughout 2027.
The head of the Catalan Executive announced. Specifically, it launched a plan to carry out works worth 3.3 billion euros in two phases. In the first, which has been put out for preliminary consultation, there are several roads of the 2+1 program, nine L9 metro stations and a package of charging points for electric vehicles. According to ministry sources,
The Department of Territory is now preparing the second batch of public works to advance pending works. Among these, according to the sources consulted, there would already be railway works. Specifically, those of the second phase of the Tarragona tram – for the first there is already an allocation of 101.2 million euros in the 2026 Budgets – and the extension of the Barcelona tram towards Molins de Rei, on the one hand, and towards Badalona, on the other, where the construction of one of the key projects of the Executive is planned, the hub audiovisual del Catalunya Media City.
The Generalitat is also studying the construction of metro works through public-private collaboration such as line 1 to Badalona, line 3 to the future Clínic Campus of Esplugues or line 4 to Sagrera. It is also being studied to unblock the Plaza de Espanya bus interchange with this system, the need for which is becoming more obvious due to the increase in the use of intercity buses due to the continuous Renfe crises. Finally, the Generalitat plans to continue with roads in the 2+1 program, such as the splitting of the C-55 in Manresa (Bages).
Sources from the Department maintain that for now there is no decision made on this package and add that the priority is, which will go out to tender urged by Abertis, and the packages that have already been put out for consultation. The rush is not only due to the delay in several of these projects but also, according to these sources, which is causing the price of the works to skyrocket. The winning companies will be in charge of making investments, maintenance and replacement in the infrastructure, if necessary.
The Government seeks to give concessions to avoid budgetary constraints and prevent them from being counted as deficit and debt. For this reason, it has devised a payment system for availability, for which the Administration will pay a fee over a period of approximately 35 years based on the quality and layout of the road, without any tolls or additional costs for the user.
In the past, the Catalan Executive to, for example, build from police stations to the Ciutat de la Justícia. These were very controversial in the past because a change in the European accounting system forced them to be counted as deficit and debt. And this occurred at a time of a serious crisis in Catalan finances. These deferred payments, according to an audit carried out by the Government of Artur Mas in 2015, amounted to 30,839 million euros that extended until 2018. Although they were criticized, the reports from the Audit Office indicated that the Mas Administration continued to use that formula.
