GREEN LIGHT FOR MAJOR ROAD PLAN

PALMA
THE President of the Council of Majorca, Francina Armengol, said yesterday “today is a historic day” for Majorca.
She was referring to the approval by the Spanish Government of the Roads Agreement for the island, which, as the Bulletin reported on the front page yesterday, will mean investments which will allow the improvement of the road network, with the clear object of “consolidating the B road network, giving them the necessary security, and moving away from the large motorway projects.

During a press conference Armengol said she was happy about the approval of the “hoped for and desired” agreement. The investment, according to her, will mean a total of 700 million euros for the island during the next 10 years, between the amount given by the Spanish Ministry of Public Works and that coming from the Council of Majorca.

She said that the first activities which the Council will carry out will centre, on the one hand, on the improvement of the access roads into Palma, with specific work on Palma's entrance and exit roads, “to avoid the daily traffic jams”, and on the other hand, on immediately starting to design an integral mobility plan for the city which “will take into account the possibility that the public transport system can be combined with the road network”.

With regard to this, Armengol added that the Son Servera bypass will be another of the infrastructures to be done urgently.
She also explained that yesterday she asked the Minister for Public Works, Magdalena Alvarez, for an appointment to sign the agreement as soon as possible, with the aim of “accelerating” the transfer of the money so that the Council can start the works.

The President of the Council of Majorca also described the fact that the Council would sign an agreement directly with the Ministry as “extraordinary news”, as this is the first time this has been done in the history of the island.

She added that this meant that the Council had acquired an “institutional relevance” and is becoming a “direct speaker” to the Spanish Government “for those investments which are necessary for the island”, she said.

Armengol repeated “her satisfaction” to be able to sign an agreement which will be positive for the island from the economic point of view, but above all, she said, because “it will allow us to have infrastructures fitting to our island, with all necessary security measures to reduce the accident rate which the roads are suffering at this time”.

The President of the Council of Majorca discounted the construction of a second ring road for Palma.