Valencia announces 15 million euro aid for passenger transport hire sector
The aid is intended to “suture” the “great wound” derived from the restrictions on movement caused by the pandemic in this strategic sector, which has 215 companies in the Community
PHOTO CREDIT: Generalitat Valenciana
Wednesday 24th March 2021 | PRESS RELEASE; translation MIKE SMITH
The president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig, has announced that the regional government will put aside 15 million euros to fund a new line of direct aid aimed at compensating the passenger transport hire sector for the losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This has been announced after a follow-up meeting for the PLAN RESISTIR aid initiative, which was attended by Vicent Soler (Finance and Economic Model), Vicent Marzà (Education, Culture and Sports), Rafa Climent (Sustainable Economy, Productive Sectors, Commerce and Labour, and Arcadia España (Territorial Policy, Public Works and Movement) as well as Manuel Illueca, director of the Valencian Institute of Finance.
The president explained that it is a strategic transport sector in which some 2,500 vehicles operate throughout the Comunidad Valenciana, belonging to 215 companies, many of them SMEs and closely linked to the tourism, leisure, cultural and education sectors. They have suffered significant losses due to the restrictions imposed to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and the new aid package is intended to “partially suture a great wound” that has been caused by it.
The aid, which will be promoted by the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Public Works and Movement, will aim to help recover the sector to avoid as much as possible the destruction of jobs and help sustain the business fabric.
The president also highlighted that 635 subsidized loans have been granted from the IVF HORECA aid package which is aimed especially at the self-employed, SMEs and micro-SMEs in the hospitality, tourism and leisure sectors within the PLAN RESISTIR.
He explained that the recipients of this aid package, for which 50 million euros has been put aside, could apply for loans of between 15,000 euros and 750,000 euros. However, the maximum amount has been now been increases to 1 million euros.
In addition, the amounts of the non-reimbursable tranches (TNR) have been modified so that the percentage of direct aid for larger loans has been increased, covering the following bands, up to a maximum of 140,500 euros:
- 15,000€ – 30,000€ (30%)
- 30,000€ – 250,000€ (15%)
- 250,000€ – 500,000€ (5%)
- 500,000€ – 1,000,000€ (2.5%)
These new TNR percentages, which includes more direct aid for all bands except the lower one, will be applied retrospectively to companies that have already applied for a loan which has been granted based on the previous percentage calculation.
Execution of PLAN PARÉNTESIS
The president also made reference to the PLAN PARÉNTESIS, an aid package that is being financed through the collaboration of the Generalitat Valenciana, the provincial councils and the local town halls, where efforts have been doubled since some places, such as Valencia, have already received the funding whilst others are still waiting, so he highlighted the need to encourage to distribution of the financial aid to all the people as quickly as possible.
Information Source
Press Release – Generalitat Valenciana
