The Andalusian Regional Minister for Sustainability, the Environment and the Blue Economy, Ramón Fernández-Pacheco, visited the municipality of Olula del Río this Friday morning, where the sealing of the inert waste landfill has been completed. This is one of the five sealing works that have been carried out in 2023 in the province of Almería, which also includes the municipality of Bayarque, and which favour «landscape and environmental restoration, guaranteeing the health requirements for the residents through sealing and cleaning work».
This is what Fernández-Pacheco said during his visit to Olula del Río. An area of more than thirty thousand square metres, whose sealing, with an investment of 1,100,239.34€, «demonstrates the unquestionable commitment of the Andalusian Government to environmental protection».
«A piece of land has been recovered which allows us to move forward with a new connection between Olula Del Río and the municipality of Purchena. We have a problem with the high traffic flow, and now we have to work to decongest one of the main arteries of the municipality. Blessed problem; if there is a lot of traffic it is because there is a lot of life,» said the mayor of Olula, Antonio Martínez Pascual.
Located in the La Noria area, the Olula del Río landfill is one of the five landfills sealed by the Junta de Andalucía last year 2023 in the province of Almería. The Olula landfill has been joined by restorations in Paterna del Río, Tabernas, Instición and Bayarque, recovering a total of 7.94 hectares thanks to an investment of more than three million euros.
The Councillor for Sustainability thanked the Olula del Río Town Council for its collaboration and congratulated its mayor, Antonio Martínez Pascual, for the commitment shown in climate change mitigation policies such as efficient waste management or «the sealing of landfills such as the one that existed in this area and which represented an anachronism in the framework of the green revolution proposed by the Andalusian Regional Government», he said.
A sustainable roadmap for Andalusia
Land reclamation and the sealing of landfills is one of the key strategic policies for the Regional Ministry of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy in the province of Almeria. Within this framework, it will receive a budget of twelve million euros to seal the landfills of Berja, Albox, Líjar and Castro de Filabres, as well as the allocation of 200,000 euros to the drafting of the project for the new solid urban waste treatment plant in the city of Almería.
Andalusia’s circular economy budget for 2024 totals 82 million euros, 91% more than in 2023. The budget includes 57.9 million euros for municipalities to improve waste management, implement the brown bin and adapt waste treatment facilities; 10 million euros for the purchase of urban waste collection trucks; 600,000 euros for new mobile clean points for municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants; and 3.5 million euros for the implementation of municipal climate change plans for municipalities with less than 50,000 inhabitants.