PP request delay to Galicia AVE

 

The newly elected PP has instructed the Ministry of Public Works to suspend all contracts for the AVE high speed railway network in Galicia.

Party officials have asked José Blanco, the acting Minister whose department is currently overseeing the project, to delay any contracts due to be awarded in the coming days. This is part of the PP's ongoing assessments to ensure that the government has enough funds to finance the project.

The Ministry has already announced 1.3 billion euros in contracts for the construction of 50 kilometers of railway, which was awarded in October. However, tenders released in July, worth some one billion euros - won't be awarded until after the new government is sworn in just before Christmas. The requested suspension could now result in 2 months of delays to the project.

The AVE high speed network will eventually connect Madrid with Galicia via Valladolid, where the AVE currently ends, to the outskirts of Zamora near the Galician province of Ourense. On Saturday, Blanco is due to inaugurate a high-speed Avant rail service - a forerunner to the AVE service - between the Galician cities of A Coruña and Ourense.

The PP have also requested delays to contracts due to be awarded for the extension of the A-66 highway between Zamora and Benavente.

The outgoing PSOE government has asked the PP to put its demands in writing before deciding whether to comply. The Galician regional President commented that not only was it "normal" to allow the contracts that have already been awarded to stand, but also to allow the incoming government to make any decision regarding contracts yet to be awarded.

Galicia´s PP government has long accused Madrid of delaying work to the AVE rail service in the region - a charge that Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's government has denied.