The Mayor of Valdepeñas, Jesús Martín, received a delegation from the City Council of Aldaya, led by his counterpart Guillermo Luján, one of the Valencian towns affected by the DANA in October. This meeting served for the Valencian population to have first-hand knowledge of the Storm Plan of Valdepeñas, which the City Council has been developing for the past 20 years with an investment of 40,000,000 euros, to be adapted to the Valencian population of 34,000 inhabitants.
Mayor Jesús Martín pointed out, «We have been working on this for 20 years, but we still have 10 left. In fact, in the funds of the European Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan, we have included the latest project within the urban area, which is the northern ring road, in continuation with what we already have channeled on Calle Ciudad Real, which is similar in size to a metro tunnel, to absorb the water from that area.»
Mayor Martín also stated, «If you don’t start one day, you will never finish, so we will provide our work model, as well as something that failed in Valencia, which is the municipal Storm Plan warning app, which will be presented soon after five years of work.»
The Storm Plan of Valdepeñas has been implemented for 20 years with the construction of underground and open-air collectors of large dimensions to prevent floods and disasters such as the flood that devastated the city on July 1, 1979, resulting in the loss of 22 lives. Aldaya’s Mayor aims to prevent the effects of the DANA in October 2024 that caused the loss of 6 lives in his town due to the overflowing of the Saleta ravine.
During their visit, the leaders had a working meeting at the Town Hall and later visited the start of the Veguilla canal in Parque del Este, as well as the El Hierro Bridge and Calle Ciudad Real, where the underground collector will continue to Avenida del Vino.
The Storm Plan also includes the opening of the El Hierro Bridge to avoid its funnel effect. For this, Adif will allocate 3,100,000 euros to optimize the resilience of the railway bridge that crosses over the La Veguilla stream, in line with the actions promoted by the City Council to overcome the effects of heavy rain episodes.
Additionally, the Valdepeñas City Council will continue the Storm Plan, together with the Guadiana Hydrographic Confederation (CHG), by creating a River Park. This intervention will be developed from the El Hierro Bridge to the ring road, and from the ring road to the mouth of the Veguilla into the Jabalón River.
Mayor Jesús Martín described this initiative as a «macroproject» that involves opening an open channel between 50-60 meters wide with a length of about 2.5 kilometers. Its implementation has required the expropriation of 41,000 square meters, belonging to 50 farms owned by 38 owners, as well as temporary occupation while the works of 75,000 square meters of 20 farms are carried out.
The project is estimated at 25,000,000 euros, which will be progressively implemented in the coming years.
FUENTE