The solution with legal guarantees to the problem of guarantees, the implementation of the Crece Industria Value Chain Plan or the Collaborating Technical Office in the region, were some of the issues that the head of the Junta has addressed with the government team of Macael.
Macael is the first municipality in Almeria to apply for formal membership of the Network of Industrial Cities of Andalusia, an initiative promoted by the Regional Ministry of Industrial Policy and Energy, which aims to set up a network of local entities committed to local industrial development and to attracting business investment. The Regional Minister for Industrial Policy and Energy, Jorge Paradela, received this request during his institutional visit to the Town Hall, where he met with the Mayor, Raúl Martínez Requejo, accompanied by the regional government’s delegate in Almería, Aránzazu Martín, and the Regional Ministry’s territorial delegate in the province, Guillermo Casquet. The meeting was also attended by the president of the Andalusian Marble Business Association (AEMA), Jesús Posadas.
As explained by Paradela at the meeting, the Regional Government of Andalusia offers to the municipalities adhered to this Network the reinforcement of their positioning in the map of productive spaces, the diffusion of their sales notebooks to attract investment and industrial development, the promotion of the locality as an industry-friendly city and training activities to have professional specialisation, among other actions. For their part, the municipalities that join this initiative undertake to implement a favourable fiscal framework for industrial projects of special interest and to speed up processing times.
The meeting also addressed issues of vital importance for the future of Macael and its region, such as the problem of guarantees, “which is much closer to having a solution with legal guarantees,” they said during the meeting, after addressing the latest meetings that have been held with the department of Paradela. The Crece Industria Value Chain Plan and what this will mean for the Almanzora region and the need to recover the Collaborating Technical Office.
The Minister for Industrial Policy and Energy has highlighted the commitment that the Andalusian Government has been making to the stone sector, in which “Macael and its region represent almost half of the extraction of marble in Spain”. Proof of this, he stressed, “is the launch of the CRECE Value Chain Plan for the Stone and Marble Industry of Andalusia last June”.
Jorge Paradela highlighted the close collaboration that the regional government has been working closely with the City Council and marble entrepreneurs “to ensure that the future is more prosperous, more international and more sustainable” for an economic engine that is very important for Andalusia”.
“It is a strategic sector for Andalusia, something that is evidenced through the CRECE Industry Plan, which aims to contribute to its stimulus from four factors: environmental and social sustainability, productivity, training and continuous qualification, and the promotion of internationalisation,” said the Minister.
This industrial plan has been allocated a public allocation of 15 million euros from European funding subject to the new Community framework 2021-2027, specifically the ERDF and Just Transition Funds, and will involve the mobilisation of 63 million euros in investments.
Visit to Cosentino
On the other hand, Jorge Paradela also visited the facilities of the company Cosentino in Macael, where he was interested in its Innovation hub, the processes of 100% recovery of water resources, the reuse of waste and the energy self-consumption facilities.
The Minister recalled that his department has urged the central government to include the stone and marble sector in the PERTE for Decarbonisation, which has a high need for decarbonisation and energy improvement, and is a sector with great growth potential in Andalusia.
“We have asked the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism that the PERTE is not only aimed at the manufacturing industry, but that it goes one step further and includes the extractive industry”. A sector that, together with industrial refrigeration and air conditioning, has to face the challenge of the transition to a decarbonised economy but which has not been the recipient of subsidies and has not been able to benefit from other PERTE (strategic projects for economic recovery and transformation).