Alicante is not last in the ranking, but it is moving steadily toward the bottom. The distribution of government investments keeps expanding each year, and the province seemingly trails the rest by a growing margin. For the second year in a row, Alicante will receive the smallest amount of investment per capita in the General Government Budgets for the coming year, and the per-person figure is even lower than the already modest baseline planned for this exercise.
The plan allocates 160.8 million euros for infrastructures in the state budget, a figure outlined by Maria Jesus Montero, the minister of finance and public duties, before the Congress of Deputies on Thursday. The per capita allocation averages 84.5 euros, while the national average of regionalized investments stands at 283.4 euros per person. In other words, each resident of Alicante would see new investments or maintenance support, amounting to as much as 199 euros less than the national average. The gap widens from last year, when the difference was 177 euros.
Overall, nationwide investments rose by 3.3 percent, yet Alicante’s share shrank by 12.3 percent. The result is a historic low for the General Government Budgets in Alicante, drawing sharp criticism from civil society, local business groups, and even some government party representatives, including Ximo Puig, head of the Generalitat.
When the numbers are examined closely, the disparity becomes starker across all Spanish provinces. For instance, Soria again appears as the province receiving the most per capita for infrastructure. The 98.4 million euros allocated there translates to about 1,103.53 euros per residence, a larger per-capita amount than many other regions—though still lower than what was projected for this year, which stood at 1,647 euros. Alicante’s residents, by comparison, would see a much smaller per-person return despite the larger provincial population base, a situation that compounds the perception of unequal treatment.
In another part of the landscape, the central government plans to invest more than a thousand euros per resident in Huesca, a province with roughly 222,000 people, which means it receives more money per capita than larger provinces like Alicante with about 1.9 million residents. Specifically, Huesca would see 223 million euros allocated, versus 160 million for Alicante.
The pattern continues with other provinces. Palencia is projected to receive about 958.51 euros per person, Cáceres around 805.7 euros, and Almería about 776 euros per resident. The big urban hubs show higher totals, but even there Alicante lags behind the major metropolitan areas that absorb a sizable portion of the budget. Regions described as sparsely populated or “Spain empty” contribute to widening regional disparities, even as metropolitan zones in places like Valencia push per-capita investments higher through projects such as Cercanías, the Port, and major corridor works along the Mediterranean and Cantabrian routes, lifting the per-capita figure to around 362 euros in Valencia, a noticeable increase over last year. Alicante remains well behind this growth trend [Source: Ministry of Finance, 2024].
The start of the Torrevieja desalination plant expansion is now postponed to 2024
The latest budget projections echo similar patterns in other major cities. In Barcelona, the plan envisions up to 1,860 million euros in investments, equating to about 329 euros per person. In Zaragoza, the figure sits around 285 euros, while Seville residents would see about 241 euros. Madrid comes in at roughly 192 euros per person, and the Basque Country at around 175 euros. Even so, these totals still exceed the per-capita budget figures considered for the state at large.
Despite some pockets of higher investment in large cities, Alicante continues to drift farther from the cohort of provinces that fall closer to the top of the list. In 2022, the state investment gap placed Alicante only 19 euros behind Navarra, which held the penultimate spot. By this year’s projection, the difference has grown, and the gap with the next-to-last province, Jaén, is widening beyond 26 euros. The trend suggests the situation may worsen in the next fiscal cycle unless policy changes are introduced.
[Citation: Ministry of Finance and Public Administration, 2024]