The Partido Popular candidate for Congress for Zaragoza, Rocío Dívar, has emphasized that her party’s and its president, Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s, commitment to the modernization of road infrastructures "is firm, quantifiable and necessary". In her view, the measures put forward by the PP seek to reverse the current deterioration of the roads, "very deteriorated after eight years of neglect and poor planning by the Ministers of Transport --Ábalos and Puente-- of the Socialist government".
Dívar has denounced that the management of the central Executive has also been felt in other areas. "It has happened with our trains, with dramatic results, and it happens on our roads as well. The poor management of the PSOE is obvious and verifiable in our province, delays, works that drag on for decades, and poor, very poor planning," she said in statements made next to the roundabout of the A-126, in the municipal district of Alagón.
As an example of what she considers a "bad" management by the Socialist Government, she cited the liberalization of the AP-68. "Less than a week ago --she has recounted--, the Aragonese stretch was liberalized and, once again, the management of the Ministry of Transport has been disastrous and has clouded what could have been good news. The reality is that the liberalization date had been set for 25 years and, despite that, the Government has not even contacted the mayors. Nor, of course, has it planned the links or the access roads that have to be reformed to improve safety, or even whether they have considered how the tolls that are still there are going to be dismantled".
Along the same lines, she has insisted that the Ministry continues to provide no adequate solution for road communications in the community. "They have been unable --she deplored-- to respond to communications in Aragon with stretches of the A-68 without duplicating them and, I insist, with unjustified delays for years. Rigor and planning have to reach the management of the Government of Spain as it has arrived at the Government of Aragon with the Partido Popular and Jorge Azcón".
To illustrate this contrast, he has referred to the performance on the exit toward the A-126. In his words, "when Alagón asked for a solution for the black spot at the exit toward the A-126, what the Azcón Government did was a roundabout, what the municipality asked for. The Government of Aragón solved the problem because it was responsible, while the Ministry of Transport has not resolved any of its own."
Dívar has assured in categorical terms that "this is going to change" starting from November 29, a date from which, he has said, the PP will assume the task of "worrying and taking care" of both railway infrastructures and the road network across the whole country and, specifically, in Aragón.
As he has advanced, "the maintenance and safety of our roads are going to be a priority in the General State Budgets. Because yes, we --he has stressed-- will have General State Budgets every year and we will also drive forward a road conservation plan. We are going to promote the infrastructures and roads that Aragón needs and that have been waiting for years."
Main proposals of the infrastructure plan
As for the content of the Partido Popular program, Dívar has detailed that among the central measures is the launch of the largest infrastructure plan of the last decades, with funding of 300,000 million euros to be deployed over the next 15 years. This package aims to reverse the "serious deterioration" of the road network and to activate a broad conservation program for more than 26,000 kilometers of state roads, prioritizing the sections with the most traffic and worst condition.
Likewise, he has specified that the PP plans to enable safe overtaking lanes where they are necessary, in addition to expanding rest areas and safe parking for hauliers, so that the maintenance and safety of infrastructures become one of the main lines of the next budgets.
Dívar has concluded his appearance by highlighting the ultimate goal of these proposals. "We are going to achieve what we should never have lost, a working Spain. Our roads will be a priority. That is the necessary change, that is the change represented by the Partido Popular," he has reiterated.