The Rubí City Council submits a bid for funding from Next Generation EU, for 33 million euros
Rubí is applying for EU resources to implement the Low Emission Zone and to execute the ‘Sustainable Rubí Municipal Market’ project, among others
This Wednesday, Mayor Ana María Martínez Martínez announced the projects that the Rubí City Council will submit to the call for projects for funding from Next Generation EU. If approved, it would be a financial injection for the city of nearly 33 million euros.
The Next Generation EU funds are a European Union instrument whose aim is to assist in the social and economic recovery of member states to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to drive their ecological and digital transition. The plan is endowed with 750,000 million euros, of which 140,000 will be allocated to transformative Spanish projects.
This Wednesday, Rubí submitted the documentation seeking funding of nearly 3.5 million euros for an initial strategic project for the city: the execution of the Low Emission Zone (LEZ). This initiative is detailed in the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (PMUS by its Catalan acronym). Its goals are to improve air quality, reduce carbon dioxide emissions, lessen ambient noise, change mobility habits and, in general, increase residents’ quality of life. The project includes actions linked directly to creating the LEZ – signalling, access control and parking, procurement of sensors, measurers and cameras, among other items – accessibility actions like repairing streets and widening pavements, implementing the Master Plan for Bicycles and a control centre.
With an eye to next year, the City Council plans to progress on this project, applying for a new aid to digitalise urban passenger transport and to hybridise the vehicle fleet.
This same week, the City Council also plans to present the project Sustainable Rubí Municipal Market, with which it aims to conclude the transformation and modernisation process of one of the city’s main economic and social hubs. The proposal consists of several actions related to the energy transition, digital transformation, social inclusion and territorial cohesion, as well as the circular economy. At this time, funding of 695,000 will be requested to execute part of these measures and, in 2022, the rest will be applied for. The mayor has strengthened the municipal commitment for commercial facilities: ‘It is a cutting-edge market and we’ve worked hard recently to improve the building and invigorate the high-quality offering it already has. We want it to continue to be a well-positioned market, which is why we are modernising it.’
Besides these two strategic projects, the City Council is working on other proposals that will be submitted at upcoming calls for projects of Next Generation EU. One of them is the digitalisation of the Citizen Services Office (OAC) with the aim of obtaining a more inclusive, efficient, personalised, proactive and quality public service. The goals for the project include reducing processing times, streamlining procedures and increasing trust in electronic transactions.
Rubí will also seek European funding to unfold the Rubí Brilla Communities. The goals of this project are to involve all citizens in the implementation of renewable energies, promote energy savings and efficiency, information management, and energy empowerment.
The other two proposals in the pipeline also involve citizens’ most immediate surroundings and are directly related to fostering energy efficiency. On the one hand, resources will be requested for a remodelling project of eight social homes and, on the other, it will apply for aid for the comprehensive restoration of the Vint-i-cinc de Setembre neighbourhood.
‘We have worked since the beginning of my term of office on the need to promote the city and seek outside alliances. Next Generation EU funds are an opportunity we’ve been given to advance with strategic projects that were already on our roadmap and detailed in the plan for my term in office,’ the mayor explained. Martínez is confident that all the projects seeking funding will be executed and that the concession of the EU aids will just ensure that their execution can be moved forward even more quickly.
The mayor concluded that ‘we will not remain behind’ and that they will do everything possible to obtain the resources needed to make Rubí ‘a healthy city that is absolutely concerned with the quality of life of its residents’.