FITE approved: Teruel Airport and Motorland continue to be protagonists

The DGA’s Governing Council approved this Friday the main lines of the Teruel Investment Fund (FITE) 2024 . The Teruel Airport consortium , with 7,000,000 euros, as well as Motorland and Technopark (3,000,000 euros between the two) are major beneficiaries one more year of these public aids whose total amount amounts to 60 million euros . It is financed, in equal parts, by the Government of Aragon and the central Government.

There are three main lines into which the FITE 2024 budget is divided. Strategic projects account for a total of 16,750,000 euros, while 13,250,000 euros are allocated to support social and sports facilities and another 8,000,000 to support social cohesion . In addition, more than 16 million euros are allocated to different lines of action aimed at small and medium-sized local entities.

Strategic tourism projects will compete for funding from the 6,255,000 euros allocated for this purpose. Finally, the amount for investments in provincial roads reaches 5.5 million euros.

SPECIFIC PROJECTS: THE AIRPORT, 

Teruel Airport will use the FITE 2024 funds to build the airship hangar , which has already been put out to tender, as well as to expand the area where the planes are parked . “Contributions to the airport have been recurring. We continue to support projects that have been underway for many years,” said FITE CEO Manuel Blasco.

Regarding Ciudad del Motor, DGA has confirmed that the Motor Technology Park ( Technopark ) will receive 1,500,000 euros from the FITE. This will be used to build a new warehouse that can be divided into sections and will accommodate four or five companies . According to Blasco, this is necessary for companies dedicated to the competition sector.

The Motorland circuit will also benefit from 1.5 million euros. In this case, according to the Government of Aragon, road access to the circuit will be improved and the grandstand will be expanded .

“There are plans to carry out work in front of the main grandstand, which is now removable. Work will also be done on the roads and accesses. It is possible that some of these works will have to be postponed,” explained Councillor Blasco, who recalled that the Government of Aragon also contributes 8 million euros for the Aragon GP and another 2 million annually for the day-to-day management of the circuit.

OTHER INVESTMENTS

Other projects worth mentioning include the new IES Bajo Aragón pavilion in Alcañiz (3,000,000 euros); the heated swimming pool in Teruel (2,560,000 euros); the Luis Buñuel residence in the city of Lovers (2,684,000 euros) and the Javalambre-Galáctica Astrophysical Observatory (1,500,000 euros) where a planetarium is to be installed and a new parking area will be created.

There are also items dedicated to the recovery of democratic memory through a Civil War museum in Teruel (285,000 euros); Dinópolis (500,000 euros); investments in alpine and cross-country ski centres (2,000,000 euros). On the other hand, 200,000 euros will be invested in improving infrastructure for the prevention, detection and extinction of forest fires and funds will be activated to invest in the rehabilitation and restoration of housing (1,668,000 euros).

A LATE FITE

The FITE 2024 has been approved just a few days before the end of the year. Manuel Blasco has justified the fact that it has arrived so late because the Council of Ministers approved it on Tuesday of last week. It was later, on Thursday, when the Extraordinary Council of the Government of Aragon approved its 30 million. The agreement was signed telematically on Friday.

Since 1992, this financial instrument has sought to promote territorial balance through the development of investment projects that directly or indirectly promote the generation of economic activity. It was created to compensate for the fact that Aragon was not a beneficiary of the Interterritorial Compensation Fund (FCI) due to its overall income level, although it had significant interterritorial inequalities.

Eligible actions must focus on infrastructure and transport, economic and business development, environment and sustainability, social cohesion and inclusion, innovation and technology, culture and heritage, and support for rural areas.

From 2025, the available amount will be progressively increased to 86 million thanks to the agreement reached at the bilateral meeting between Azcón and Sánchez last October. The intention of the Government of Aragon is to dedicate the new contributions to strategic projects at a business level that guarantee the creation of employment.