Barcelona Catalunya Centre Logístic (BCL), a public-private logistics association, has created a Tarragona-Lleida working group to develop joint proposals for freight infrastructure and economic activity across the two areas.

For residents and drivers using the A-27 near Valls and Montblanc, and the C-14 towards Alcover, the group gives local chambers of commerce a new forum to press for improvements to routes they say are constrained by bottlenecks. No construction timetable or individual project has been announced.

The group was presented at the Museu Casteller de Catalunya in Valls, with representatives from the chambers of commerce of Valls, Tarragona, Reus, Tortosa, Lleida and Tàrrega, as well as the employers' organisations Pimec and FOET.

“This is not about creating a lobby. It is about correcting a shortfall in this area,” said Santiago Castellà, president of the Port of Tarragona and BCL.

A joint agenda for freight infrastructure

BCL plans to use its Logistics Agenda 2030 for Lleida and Tarragona as a framework for organisations in the working group to submit proposals for discussion with the relevant public authorities.

Alicia Casart, BCL's studies coordinator, said the agenda would monitor key measures. Once priorities have been agreed, each project would receive a record setting out its technical details, investment needs and timeframe, alongside a green, amber or red status indicator.

Castellà said Barcelona's logistics capacity was under pressure and argued that this created an opportunity for the Tarragona-Lleida corridor to strengthen its role as a freight node in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula.

Road and rail concerns raised in Valls

Representatives of the Tarragona province's chambers of commerce identified several transport priorities during the event:

  • Josep Maria Rovira, president of the Cambra de Valls, called for work to address a five-kilometre bottleneck after the Coll de Lilla tunnel on the A-27, before the connection with the motorway.
  • Mario Basora, president of the Cambra de Reus, called for the C-14 to be widened as far as Alcover.
  • Francesc Faiges, president of the Cambra de Tortosa, argued for the Ebre area's role in freight and industrial planning.
  • Jordi Cáceres, projects director at the Cambra de Tarragona, said rail shortcomings limited links with the rest of Spain and Europe, pushing firms towards road haulage and adding pressure to roads.

The working group will add ideas raised during the session to its proposals before drawing up the project records and their progress indicators.

Reported by Diari de Tarragona.