Industry plays a key role as an engine in the diversification of the provincial economy, job creation and the implementation of many services. It is not in vain that Alicante enjoys a productive diversity in Spain, which is unique and not uniform throughout its geography. This has allowed it to have highly specialized fields that position itself as a whole as a national and international benchmark.
After the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 and the devastation it has wreaked on the industry, activity appears to have returned to pre-COVID-19 levels. However, uncertainty among the companies in the sector continues due to the increase in energy costs and raw materials. Some increases, mainly due to the Russian occupation of Ukraine, which could put the development of industrial municipalities in the province at risk.
Silvia Verdú, deputy mayor of Pinoso; Jesús Villar, mayor of Sant Vicente del Raspeig; and José Manuel Penalva, mayor of the Crevillent City Council, at the «Crisis and industrial municipalities» roundtable. All three agreed that the current concern in the industry is creating more uncertainty for them than with COVID-19.
“We were very worried about the health crisis, but we handled it pretty well, and despite the damage that was done, there was no major company shutdown,” recalls Jesús Villar. In this context, he stressed that his administration was very different from the 2008 crisis through the granting of aid, consumer bonds, abolition of rates; development of vaccines and stabilization of infections.
But the mayor stressed, “We are more concerned about the impact of the rise in energy and raw material prices,” so the City Council of Sant Vicente del Raspeig sees a commitment to renewable energies. “They exist and we need to create ideal conditions for companies to take on energy that can reduce energy costs.”
Jesús Villar requested more facilities while carrying out administrative procedures that allow them to expand industrial lands, renovate existing industrial estates and offer new warehouses, to facilitate the development of companies already established in his municipality and to encourage the arrival of new firms. Currently, companies want larger floors and large industrial buildings that are not 500, 1000 square meters. Therefore, he praised IVACE’s funds for the modernization and improvement of industrial sites.
Some obstacles delaying initiatives and economic opportunities for municipalities In this context, Silvia Verdú said, “Today we need years to make the procedures a reality, such as implementing changes in an industrial area. Improvement and good coordination with supra-municipal governments to shorten lead times so that we can deliver what industrial companies demand.” it should.
Especially in a town like Pinoso where the extraction of natural stone, especially cream ivory, is in a major crisis. While the sector produced 500,000 cubic meters in 2007, it has increased to 90,000 cubic meters today. “There are six of the 16 companies we have now,” the deputy mayor said. These data are part of the reasons that prompted the council to take measures to ensure industrial diversity. In this sense, he underlined the good behavior that the shoe industry or the wine industry has in his town.
Like the first mayor of Sant Vicente del Raspeig, Silvia Verdú suggested that Pinoso worked to improve industrial estates and offer larger warehouses that allowed new companies to be welcomed and diversified. Among the improvement measures, the deputy mayor thanked Generalitat for the sixm-euro investment that will prevent thousands of trucks from the marble quarries from passing through the urban area.
In Crevillent, where industry represents about 30% of the municipal economic activity, José Manuel Penalva stated that they have a wide variety of companies, in which the rug and carpet industry stands out. The mayor of Crevillent was optimistic about the current situation in his municipality, pointing to better employment data and the number of companies than the 2008 crisis, as companies related to tourism and restaurants have suffered more. impact of covid-19.
“In the industrial sector, the impact of covid-19 had nothing to do with the great crisis. I think that in almost all industrial municipalities the health crisis is holding up pretty well.”
Looking ahead and facilitating industrial development, the mayor highlighted the COMPTEM project for the consolidation of Crevillent as Europe’s leading local energy community. The Crevillent Electricity Cooperative project was born with the horizon of 2030, with plans to install up to 5 MW between self-consumption facilities and photovoltaic power plants owned by Enercoop in the urban environment of Crevillent. “The goal is to push our breakthrough industry.”
He also stressed that “Crevillent is starting to be attractive to big companies”, which he believes “must be agile to make urban changes for the development of our industrial spaces”. As he noted, Crevillent has industrial land, both ordered and unregulated, and pending planning, and work needs to be started to meet companies’ demands. Doing this depends on agility, as your desk mates have already pointed out.
“We must have a local government that can streamline all processes and projects, deal with conflicting responses, and deliver essential services quickly.”