More than 1,500 businesspeople have gathered today in the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya conference centre in Barcelona to give their support for what they describe as the most important and necessary infrastructure project for the Iberian peninsula: the proposed Mediterranean Corridor high-speed rail link. The event, organised by AVE (the Spanish high-speed rail service), was called #QuieroCorredor (I want [the] corridor). It brought together senior figures from the worlds of business and politics with the aim of ending the situation where, as the president of AVE, Vicente Boluda, put it, "we all fight for our part, and that doesn't work".
The Mediterranean Corridor has been discussed for more than 15 years, although it previously seemed more a make-believe project with little chance of actually becoming a reality. Now though, hundreds of entrepreneurs have expressed society's "need" for the corridor and it's even been given a completion date: 2025.
Tots fem la guerra per la nostra banda i així no funciona" - Boluda
Among those present giving their support to the project were bankers, like Jordi Gual (president of CaixaBank) and Josep Oliu (Banc Sabadell); senior figures in large business organisations Gay de Montellà, Josep Sánchez-Llibre, José Luis Bonet and Juan Rosell, Juan José Brugera (Economy Circle) and Juan Roig (supermarket chain Mercadona).
There were also various political faces, mainly from Catalonia, Valencia and Murcia (three of the four autonomous communities the Corridor will pass through), like Spanish public works minister José Luís Ábalos; Catalan infrastructures minister Damià Calvet, the president of Valencia, Ximo Puig, and the president of Murcia, Fernando López Miras, among many others. There was one notable absence, however: Catalan president Quim Torra, due to an agenda clash.
From Algeciras to France in 2021
It was Ábalos who gave the key dates. He said that all stretches of line will be tendered out by March next year, 2019, and "only the technical part will have to be solved". According to the minister, to have finished the line from France to Algeciras, in Andalusia, they'll have to wait even less: "I'm confident that it'll be practically finished in 2021 because we're already on the finish straight", earlier than expected. He again said that "the financial part is covered and only some technical aspects have to be covered".
I'm confident that it'll be practically finished in 2021 because we're already on the finish straight - Ábalos
But scepticism towards the deadlines set by the Spanish government is a recurrent feature, especially on infrastructure projects of this scale. Asked about this, the public works minister said: "I'm telling you these dates according to the current conditions, but above all transparency is needed". "Surprises can always arise", he said, "but at the same time it's necessary to keep people informed and be transparent". "We [the Spanish government] have given it a strong boost and we've silenced those who cast doubt on my words about the corridor, which were that 'nothing will stop us', and so it's been," he said.