Promises, promises

Regional president Ximo Puig promises tram to La Fe, direct metro to Valencia port and Dénia- Benidorm line upgrade for new term

A NEW tram link from Valencia's Estació Nord to La Fe hospital has been promised, and work on metro Line 10 will provide a direct connection between the city centre and the Marina.

Regional president Ximo Puig says works on the latter, connecting the main hub of Valencia with the Natzaret neighbourhood, would include extending it to the port and the Malvarrosa beach, considerably cutting the time taken in travelling from one to the other and avoiding having to change trains.

Around € 35 million will be spent on a new tramline between La Fe and the Calle Alicante, next to Valencia's largest and most central station – next to the bullring at the bottom of Calle Colón.

La Fe can already be reached from the Estació Nord by metro, but involves at least one change.

Sr Puig has also pledged to finish the ' complete modernisation' of Line 9 on the Alicante outer suburban network between Benidorm and Dénia before the next local and regional elections in May 2023.

He says the regional rail company, FGV, intends for the Dénia- Benidorm- Alicante line to extend as far as Alicante city and the hospital in Sant Joan d'Alacant.

These works will around € 23.3 million.

In total, along with other cost ' tweaks' on the Valencia metro network, Sr Puig plans to invest € 640 million between now and the year 2027. Government and EU finding On Monday, regional councillor for the economy Vicent Soler noted that the spending guidelines outlined by the national government that day would allow Valencia to access € 1.3 billion in additional funding next year.

This would cover the shortfall in financial resources caused by the pandemic, he added.

Coupled with funding which is coming from the EU, this will ‘ guarantee’ that the Valencia region has sufficient resources to face up to the pandemic and carry out a reconstruction plan.

Sr Soler explained that the European cash will be available for the ‘ green economy’, the digital transformation and public private partnerships.

“This is a global package of measures which are going to benefit residents in the region and help us to maintain frontline public services such as health, education and social services,” he said.