Spain announces eleven billion Euro spending plan on infrastructure
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By h.b. - Nov 27, 2008 - 5:50 PM
The Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, told Congress that the plan would stimulate the economy and create jobs.

The Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has today presented to Congress his new plans to reactivate the economy.

The new plan has a budget of 11 billion Euro, 8 billion of them going to local City and Town Halls, with the idea that the money is spent immediately on improving local infrastructures to absorb the people who have found themselves unemployed because of the construction and real estate market collapse.

The projects must start immediately and fit into the category of the construction, rehabilitation or improvement of urban and social spaces. Work to improve advanced technology installations is also included in the plan. All the projects must start between January and April next year. The money for the local town halls is an effective doubling of the budget they were expecting for 2009.

There is also money for the car manufacturing industry, which the Prime Minister described as strategic, but only in exchange for express guarantees from them that jobs will be maintained. The car makers get 800 million €.

Other provisions are 600 million € for environmental works, 500 million € for research and development, 120 million for the rehabilitation of housing and for investment in social tourism.

There will also be 400 million € for the regional governments to be spent on the new Dependency Law which Zapatero described as ‘an important creator of employment’. He said he hoped that 200,000 jobs would be created by the measures next year.

The plan will be introduced by Royal Decree, after being approved by the cabinet, probably tomorrow.

The leader of the Partido Popular opposition, Mariano Rajoy described the plans as ‘chaos and disorder’, and called for ‘a real and complete economic project’.

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