Territory will draw up an urban master plan to rearrange and expand the Catalunya Sud estate

The Minister of Territory, Juli Fernàndez i Olivares, has today announced the drafting of an Urban Master Plan for Economic Activity (PDUAE) to reorganize and boost the industrial area of South Catalonia, located between Tortosa and l'Aldea, as a driving force economic and generator of opportunities in the Terres de l'Ebre. The councilor met today with the mayoress of Tortosa, Meritxell Roigé, the mayor of the village, Xavier Royo, and the delegate of the Government in the Terres de l'Ebre, Albert Salvadó, to discuss the objectives that would to achieve this PDUAE.

Currently, the Austrian company Kronospan, dedicated to the manufacture of agglomerate boards for the furniture sector, is being established in the Catalunya Sud estate, on a plot located on the Tortosa side of the estate. In addition, Kronospan signed, in December 2022, the sale contract with INCASÒL for four other contiguous plots located on the Aldea side of the same estate. This new purchase will be used for the future expansion of its facilities, once the corresponding planning instrument has been processed.

It is estimated that the implementation of Kronospan will lead to the creation of 180 direct and other indirect jobs, taking into account that other nearby complementary industries will be needed. This role of a new activity tractor industry, as well as the Government's desire to promote large sectors of economic activity well distributed throughout the country, advises the drafting of a supra-municipal planning instrument to reorder and enhance the Catalunya Sud polygon.

Impulse for the reorganization of the polygon

In this sense, the Minister of Territory has announced today that the Department will soon begin the drafting of an Urban Master Plan for Economic Activity (PDUAE) with the aim of ordering 675 hectares of economic and logistical activity in the municipal terms of Tortosa and the Village.

Thus, he expressed the "commitment of the Generalitat and the town councils to the promotion of an area of economic activity which, in terms of the country, is strategic, because it goes far beyond the Terres de l'Ebre". The new urban planning instrument "will allow us to move forward in the best way so that this polygon generates the most opportunities for us", the Councilor of Territory was convinced.

The new PDUAE that will be drawn up is part of the Government's Economic Activity Lands strategy, which seeks to promote industrial estates with the capacity to offer large-format plots in places with a very good connection to the infrastructure network . The PDUAE also follows from the Logistics Strategy for the Internationalization of the Catalan Economy.

According to Fernàndez, the Catalunya Sud estate "has a strategic location that allows it to be one of the spaces that leads the Catalan economy, advancing the reindustrialization of the Terres de l'Ebre and the country in general".

In fact, the Territorial Plan of the Terres de l'Ebre already outlined a large industrial and logistics area in this area, which has not been fully developed, with access to the existing railway network through the construction of a branch and an intermodal freight station.

Therefore, the area of 675 hectares that will now be covered by the PDUAE goes beyond the current surface of the Catalunya Sud estate and extends to nearby developable land not yet developed but foreseen by the Territorial Plan.

The main objectives of the PDUAE will be to delimit and specify the organization of the entire area of economic activity and will also carry out the necessary land reserve to be able to build the railway branch with direct access to the estate, as well as an intermodal goods terminal . "We must make the activity area even more powerful with this necessary rail connection", pointed out the head of Territory.

The start of the whole process will be when the Commission for the Territory of Catalonia, in the coming weeks, agrees to start drafting the PDUAE. It is expected that the progress of this PDUAE can be completed in the third quarter of this year. As a whole, the duration of the drafting and processing of the Urban Master Plan will be around 18 months.

Apart from the PDUAE, it will be necessary to write a specific informative study to specify the new railway connections, processed by the competent body. This study will envisage two phases: the first for the implementation of a railway branch to access the estate and the second to enable the implementation of an intermodal goods terminal.

Source: Territory Department