The PP, Compromís and Vox have carried through in Les Corts the consideration of a non-legislative proposal (PNL) registered by the 'populars' to call on the central Government for the execution of the Cercanías railway plan 2017-2025 in the Comunitat Valenciana, in a debate marked by criticism of the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente. The PSPV has opted for abstention.
The proposal, raised after the Adamuz (Córdoba) railway accident --which left 46 dead last January-- and discussed this Monday in the commission of Public Works, Housing, Infrastructure and Transport of Les Corts, asks the Consell to demand that the state Executive complete the deployment of the Cercanías plan 2017-2025.
Likewise, the text demands to repair "the deteriorated enclaves in order to restore the speed and safety of workers and passengers, which have some incident registered in the stretches of the Comunitat Valenciana" and to increase the economic resources allocated to the maintenance and safety of the road network in the Comunitat Valenciana.
In the same commission, another PNL relative to the burial of the tracks as they pass through Alfafar, Sedaví and Benetússer (Valencia), promoted by Vox, has been dealt with, which has received the support of all the groups, except the PSPV, which has voted against.
The PP deputy Joserra González de Zárate, in statements to the media before the start of the session, has underlined, after the Urda (Toledo) accident, the importance of the safety and maintenance of the railway network and has stated that since the arrival of the PSOE to the Government "they have completely forgotten" both issues. "They have spent it on other things, on corruption," he denounced.
Furthermore, he criticized that the central Executive has placed in bodies such as Adif "people who were not prepared" for these positions. "That has to disappear," he demanded, while he asked for the resignation of the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, and of "all" his political positions, and demanded "that it be professionalized".
Regarding the Cercanías network in the Comunitat Valenciana, the 'popular' parliamentarian has considered it unacceptable "that we have the tracks as we do, that the 2017-2025 plan has an execution of approximately 40%" or that the Government sends the region "trains more than 20 years old that are circulating in other communities and now they bring them to us second-hand". "They treat us like a second-rate community. They don't care that there are delays, that there are cancellations, that there is chaos," he criticized.
Burial of the tracks in l'Horta Sud
About the burial of the tracks in Alfafar, Sedaví and Benetússer, González de Zárate has warned that there are "human lives of Valencians that have been left on those tracks because this intervention has not been done". "A great many Valencians pass there every day," he emphasized.
From Vox, Miguel Pascual has defended his PNL to undertake the burial of the tracks in the face of the "negativa de Óscar Muerte", in reference to Óscar Puente, whom he has branded a "totally indecent" minister. "He should have left the post many months ago, many years ago," he said.
The deputy has recalled that the residents of these towns "have been suffering and demanding" the burial for 40 years. And regarding the Cercanías plan, Pascual has asked "for the umpteenth time that it be carried out once and for all" and has reproached that the execution "does not reach 50%".
For her part, Mª Josep Calabuig (Compromís) has pointed out that the PP's PNL on Cercanías "is nothing new" because it had already been addressed in Les Corts and the coalition had already positioned itself in favor. For this reason, she has described it as "a little cynical" to demand measures from Madrid "when they themselves have powers" in Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana (FGV) and know "perfectly the difficulties and the problems we have in public transport in Valencia". In her view, the "most coherent" thing would be to demand "the comprehensive improvement of Valencian public transport".
During the debate, Michel Montaner (PSPV) has called for "responsibility, rigor and respect" in matters such as railways and has stressed that the socialists share the need to strengthen Cercanías so that they are "modern, safe and reliable", but he has reproached the PP for its "partial view of reality". "Let us not turn this into a competition of reproaches, citizens need trains that work and administrations that assume their responsibilities," he defended. The PSPV had registered an amendment that extended these demands to the Consell for the FGV network.
Debate on housing and the CV-865 road
At another point on the agenda, the PP and Vox have rejected two PNLs, one relating to the acquisition of housing (Compromís) and another to urgently resume the works on the CV-865 Elche-Santa Pola road (PSPV). As for the first, the coalition has advocated "making life easier for people who are going to acquire a first home" and "making it more difficult for those who dedicate themselves to accumulating them" and to "speculate".
In contrast, the 'populars' have defended the management of the current Consell against the "zero homes" of the previous Botànic government. Vox, for its part, has described the proposal as a "nonsense" and "deception of the citizens", in addition to accusing the left of wanting to promote "a kind of intrusion into the freedom of the housing market".