Benidorm will once again apply for a European grant for the water cycle digitalisation project

Benidorm will opt for the third time for the grant called by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge for projects to improve the efficiency of the urban water cycle within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan financed by the Next Generation funds of the European Union. This was unanimously approved today by the plenary session of the Benidorm City Council, which will participate in the call with the project 'Vida Benidorm, Visión Integral y Digital del Agua'.

The project with which Benidorm participates aims to "advance in the improvement, knowledge and management of the integral water cycle, considering this as an ideal vector to form a model of an intelligent, sustainable and social municipality that advances in its resilience through digitalization and that addresses the transition to a new city model" said José Ramón González de Zárate, Councilor for the Water Cycle, in the plenary session.

As planned, the project will be developed in the territorial area of ​​Benidorm. If the subsidy does not reach 100% of the budget, the City Council undertakes to implement the remaining amount through financial resources from the Municipal Drinking Water and Sewerage Service concession.

The Benidorm project, without VAT, is budgeted at 1,343,730 euros and the total amount of this third call is 50 million. The requested aid is 1,069,764.20 euros, so the contribution of own funds would be 273,965.80 euros.

González de Zárate explained that the project "will contribute to the modernization of the water cycle in the city using digitalization as the main tool, innovation and training, contributing to making water management more efficient and sustainable."

The councillor has stated that Benidorm is presenting a smaller project “to make the subsidy viable”. If chosen, the execution period is reduced to just nine months and a resolution is not expected until September of this year. The plenary agreement also authorises Hidraqua to be the beneficiary of the subsidy if the project is selected.

González de Zárate has also stated that this action will provide plans “to prevent, reduce and minimise the consequences of the negative impacts of exceptional characteristics linked to climate change”. It will also increase the digitalisation of the water cycle, promote transparency in management by providing tools that enable more responsible consumption of water resources and will seek a balance between tourism development and the preservation of water resources, guaranteeing environmental sustainability.

The ‘Comissió del 700 Aniversari de la Fundació de Benidorm’ has also been unanimously approved. The proposal, according to the spokesperson Lourdes Caselles, “ensures that the events can be enjoyed by all citizens” and she has argued that the commission “is technical and not political” because it has in its composition “a group of entities and people who can give us all lessons”.

According to the proposal, the ‘Comissió del 700 Aniversari’ was created “to promote activities and events to celebrate this anniversary and involve civil society in it”. Its main function will be to “propose and organise as many initiatives as are considered appropriate to spread this commemoration”.

The Commission will be made up of representatives of Benidorm civil society and the presidency will be held by the mayor, Toni Pérez. The honorary president will be the doctor in Hispanic Philology and professor of Catalan Philology, Rafael Alemany Ferrer. The vice-presidency will be occupied by Ana Pellicer, First Deputy Mayor of Benidorm, and the coordinators of the new body will be professors Bárbara Alemany Barceló and Pascual Almiñana Orozco. Likewise, the head of the Municipal Archive, María Victoria Blázquez Soldevila, and professor María José Lozano Pérez will serve as technical secretary.

The ‘Commission for the 700th Anniversary of the Foundation of Benidorm’ will also have several seats, which will be occupied by the people and entities awarded the ‘Ciutat de Benidorm’ Cultural Distinction. The people chosen as representatives of the directors of Primary and Secondary education in the public, private and concerted educational centres of the city will also be members, as well as the directors of the municipal Music and Dance conservatories, one person appointed by the Neighbourhood Council and another by the Grup Carta de Poblament de l’Associació de Pensions ‘Verge del Sofratge’.

Caselles has stated that “politics must be put aside” and has asked for “maximum confidence” in the experts who form part of the commission because “the important thing is to carry out acts that are up to the standard of Benidorm”. “This goes far beyond the acts of the Carta de Poblament Group, which we have always supported, because we are talking about the 700th anniversary of the birth of Benidorm” added the government spokesperson.

The plenary session has approved, with the unanimous vote of the groups, the II Youth Plan of the city, which covers the years 2025-2028 inclusive. It is a document, said the Youth councillor, Ana Soliveres, “which reflects the current situation of young people in Benidorm, which studies the infrastructures and services and sets out the actions carried out by the different councillors”. The plan also carries out “a future study of all the actions that will be carried out, establishing objectives and goals to be achieved”.

Soliveres has described as “fundamental” the contributions made by entities, associations and groups through surveys of the population “thus promoting the participation and collaboration of social agents and constituting an essential instrument for detecting interests and needs”.

With the abstention of the opposition groups, an extrajudicial approval of credit worth 864,665.44 euros for the payment of invoices for ordinary expenses corresponding to the 2024 financial year has been approved “which will not cause harm to the current financial year” stated Aida García Mayor, Councillor for Finance, who added that “failure to recognise the loan would result in a situation of unjust enrichment in favour of the Administration”.

Finally, with the votes of the government and Vox, a PP motion has been approved to urge the Government of Spain to exempt taxes for those affected by the natural disaster of the Dana de Valencia and to recognize all municipalities seriously affected by the emergency.

Among the measures proposed in the motion are the exemption of the IBI fees for 2025 of real estate that has been damaged by the catastrophe, the exemption of the ICIO in constructions, installations and works that need to be carried out in affected homes, the reduction of the IAE in industries and professionals whose premises or affected assets have been damaged, the exemption of the Special Tax on vehicles purchased to replace others deregistered due to damage caused by the Dana, to which a zero VAT rate will be applied, in addition to other exemptions and reductions. The proposal states that the decrease in income caused by this in town councils, provincial councils and the Autonomous Community "will be compensated from the General State Budget."