Mazón announces one million euros for tourist promotion of Les Valls towns devastated by the fire

Wednesday 31st August 2022 · Mike Smith
Source: XAD (Carlos López)

The president of the Alicante Provincial Council, Carlos Mazón, has announced that one million euros will be provided through the Costa Blanca Tourist Board to promote tourism in the towns that have been affected by the great fire that devastated more than 12,000 hectares with its epicentre in Vall d’Ebo.

Mazón announced this investment after the meeting he held on Tuesday with the mayors of La Vall d’Ebo (Leonor “Nori” Jiménez), Planes (Javier Sendra), Balones (Juan Tomás Bou), L’Atzúbia (María Oltra), Benimassot (Ismael Molinés), Castell de Castells (Vicente Tomás Estalrich), Fageca (Ismael Vidal), Famorca (Vicente Ruiz), Pego (Enrique Moll), Tollos (Félix Frau), La Vall d’Alcalà (Pablo Martínez), La Vall de Laguar (Juan Carlos Mengual), Vall de Gallinera (Ignasi Mora), Orba (Ignasi Cervera) and Tormos (Jerónimo Bermúdez). Also attending were the representatives of Infrastructure, Roads, Environment and Emergencies.

Speaking after the meeting, the president highlighted the work of the firefighting personnel and in particular the Provincial Firefighters Consortium, in fighting a fire that was finally declared extinct last Saturday evening. And he added that now discussions have to begin about recovery, revitalization and the implementation of relevant actions, announcing that the provincial council are making an aid package available to the 15 affected municipalities as soon as possible since it is the closest administration to these town councils.

“The tax part is very important right now, both for citizens and for the councils, and we have announced through SUMA that there will be deferrals on offer for the payment of taxes and instalments and special payments enabled for the residents of the two affected zones of La Marina Alta and Comtat”, he explained.

Regarding the funding for the promotion of tourism in these regions, Mazón explained that “one million euros will be made available to the affected municipalities for their promotion, with specific plans aimed at attracting visitors, bicycle tourism, gastrotourism or environmental tourism.”

He has also announced that the percentage of aid will be increased for localities at risk of depopulation, “which are the vast majority of those that have been damaged by fire”, as well as for promoting a comprehensive plan for the restoration of provincial roads and highways, which will amount to around 700,000 and one million euros.

The president of the Provincial Council also called on the Generalitat Valenciana to collaborate in the these recovery actions so that the two Administrations work together to coordinate the technical, administrative and bureaucratic procedures in order to speed up the recovery phase.

One of these collaborative actions would be regarding the recovery of the vegetation and Mazón explained that provincial technicians have already begun to work on site to prepare a report assessing the situation and the damage, a step that will be followed by the request for a working group with the Generalitat Valenciana, the Administration responsible for forestry land, to execute the recovery actions.

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