The Socialist Parliamentary Group has achieved unanimity in the Andalusian Parliament for the Almanzora Dual Carriageway to reach Baza, as it was initially conceived before the Government of Moreno Bonilla eliminated the section between Purchena and Baza within this dual carriageway and thus reflected it in the Andalusian Transport and Mobility Infrastructure Plan (PITMA), reducing it to the improvement of the current regional road and contravening what was planned and approved by the previous socialist government in the Junta de Andalucía, which was a dual carriageway to connect the entire Almanzora region and to be an important communication route with the Levante region, Therefore, it was planned and approved by the previous socialist government in the Junta de Andalucía, and was a motorway to connect the entire region of Almanzora and was an important means of communication with the Levante and the rest of Andalusia.
The Proposición No de Ley (PNL) has been defended by the regional MP for the PSOE of Almería, Juan Antonio Lorenzo Cazorla, who, in turn, has accused the PP of carrying out an exercise of «trilerismo» with a «trick amendment» which, in short, left everything in the hands of the PITMA when, as the PSOE of Almería revealed at the time, it does not contemplate the completion of the Almanzora dual carriageway as far as Baza. Since then, the socialists have constantly complained to the Moreno Bonilla Government to correct the project and complete the dual carriageway as planned, and one of the actions has been to present this PNL for which there was great expectation; so much so that mayors, mayors and social and economic agents from the provinces of Almeria and Granada have travelled to the Parliament and Juan Antonio Lorenzo has thanked them for their attendance and support.
The Secretary General of the PSOE in Almeria was pleased to have finally secured the PP’s commitment to the Almanzora Dual Carriageway, but he added that he doubted that «it will fulfil its promises» because, at present, «it does not even have funding for the section of the dual carriageway between Purchena and Olula». «These good intentions must be accompanied by funding», he defended and pointed out that in the PNL the socialists ask that the projects be put out to tender between 2024 and 2025 with the aim of completing all the work in 2030 and all this, he said, must be reflected in the PITMA, so «we will be very vigilant to ensure that this is so and we will not be calm until this plan is corrected».
«If you don’t have the budget, look for it, but make the motorway. So far, they have only claimed to have completed the motorway projects that were already on the table, because they were planned by the previous socialist government, but they have not yet done anything for this motorway, only what they found,» he said.
Lorenzo Cazorla recalled that the Almanzora dual carriageway was conceived from the A-7 to the A-92 North to meet the logistical needs of companies in the marble industry, which generates thousands of jobs and has a turnover of billions of euros, such as the multinational Cosentino, which operates from its facilities in Cantoria for the whole world. «It was also conceived as a fundamental backbone in the communication of the interior of the province of Granada with the Levante Almeriense; a road that will benefit, among others, sectors such as agriculture, livestock, rural tourism and that will also promote economic development initiatives in these regions, constituting an element of dynamism, cohesion and social integration of Andalusia», argued the leader of the socialists of Almeria this afternoon in the Andalusian Parliament, who has stressed the support of Europe for this infrastructure.
«In December 2013, the European Commission declared the Almanzora Dual Carriageway as a ‘Major Project’, which guaranteed that this dual carriageway would be done in its entirety, as far as Baza» which is why he considers it essential that the Junta «continues to make the necessary investments, within the framework of European funding, which will allow the completion of the dual carriageway».
«What you cannot pretend is to turn the A-334 into something else. It is not a question of the region losing this road, which is also fundamental for the interconnection of the different municipalities, but rather that this road be maintained and that the section of dual carriageway pending to Baza be built. In other words, the approach has to be that of two independent roads; on the one hand, the regional road and, on the other, and in parallel, the dual carriageway», he explained.
