The President of the Government of Spain visits the Metrocentro extension project, which will link the centre of Seville with Santa Justa station

Seville (Spain)

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, this Saturday visited the project to extend Metrocentro in Seville, which will link the city centre with its main passenger arrival point, Santa Justa station. This municipal infrastructure, which is financed by ERDF and NextGenerationEU funds, is a clear commitment to public transport, a commitment shared by the Executive and Seville City Council to promote sustainable mobility.

The head of the Executive, accompanied by the Minister for Treasury and Public Function, María Jesús Montero, the Mayor of Seville, Antonio Muñoz Martínez and the Government Delegate, Pedro Fernández Peñalver, travelled on the tram to the San Bernardo interchange, where they toured the works area and the information display on the Metrocentro extension.

During his visit, Sánchez was able to gauge opinions on the measure implemented by the Executive to reduce public transport fares in response to citizens' needs in the face of inflation and the energy crisis, and which involves a 30 per cent reduction in public transport fares for regional and local public transport. On public transport in Seville alone, these discounts will apply to some 17 million journeys.

Andalusia is the region that has received the most NextGenerationEU funds, nearly 5.7 billion euros, between REACT-EU investments (1.881 billion euros) and the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (3.793 billion euros). The most important projects to be financed with European funds in Seville's capital, through MITMA, are related to Low Emission Zones, including the acquisition of trams for the Metrocentro extension between San Bernardo and Nervión with a budget of more than 6 million euros.

Pedro Sánchez's Government has increased resources for Andalusia by 33.8% in its four years in office. The 2022 State Budget allocates 2.267 billion euros for investments in this Region, the highest figure in the last 10 years, and 5.7% higher than in 2021. Moreover, Andalusia will this year have the highest payments on account in the entire historical series, 20.943 billion euros, 6.7% higher than in 2021.

Non official translation