Barcelona, Catalonia, the Generalitat has set out a €3.3 billion plan for strategic infrastructure projects across the region, including a new intermodal rail terminal for the Torreblanca i Quatre Pilans industrial estate in Lleida. President Salvador Illa announced the plan at the Cercle d’Economia conference in Barcelona and said the projects should be completed within six years.
Illa said the investment is intended to speed up projects that would otherwise take 20 to 25 years. He said, “Catalonia cannot and does not want to wait any longer” for the infrastructure it needs. The funding will come from public-private investment.
The plan is split into two packages. The second, worth €1.5 billion, includes the Lleida rail terminal, the duplication of the C-55 road, which links Baix Llobregat with Solsonès via Bages, and the second phase of the tram line between Tarragona and Reus. For official background on the government’s work, see the news tag.
The first package, worth €1.8 billion, will focus on a 2+1 lane programme on several roads. In Lleida, the routes named in the plan include the C-12 between Amposta and Lleida, the C-14 between Ponts and Oliana, the C-26 between Balaguer and Artesa de Segre, the L-310 between Tàrrega and Guissona, and the L-311 between Cervera and Guissona.
The Torreblanca industrial estate has been delayed for nearly 20 years. It is planned for the Mangraners exit towards Tarragona, next to the N-240 road, past the junction with the C-13 south bypass. The project began in 2007, was halted by the economic crisis the following year, and was restarted in 2021, with initial plans to begin construction in 2023.
The planning process was delayed by four years, and the Territory Commission approved the definitive urban development plan in March this year. The estate will cover 202.8 hectares, with 135 hectares set aside for a large parcel that can be divided into three sections. Of that total, 78.9 hectares are reserved for the intermodal terminal, which will run parallel to the existing railway line.
