Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

AMB formalised the agreement with the Government of Catalonia, under the terms of which for the first time, AMB will directly manage the contribution from ERDF (European Regional Development Funds) to carry out projects amounting to 60 million euros. Fifty per cent of the budget will be financed with these funds, and they will be undertaken until 2023.

The projects will be carried out in three main areas:

• Improved use and quality of ICT: more than 5 million euros will be allocated to the ongoing development of the AMB SMART platform for the inclusion of more services (e.g. mobility and public transport, and waste management) and new features in its applications: immediate opinions from citizens, a system for online complaints and suggestions, and additional municipal information. Within this area, AMB also plans to carry out projects aimed at reviving and modernising the economic territorial fabric, and ensuring digital connectivity for everyone.
• Low carbon economy: about 30 million euros allocated to increasing the energy efficiency of public buildings and infrastructure. A programme for the renovation of public and private housing to improve energy efficiency will also be carried out. The metropolitan policy of sustainable mobility to fight air pollution will also continue to be implemented.
• Conservation and protection of green infrastructure: 25.2 million euros will be allocated to financing projects for the conservation, protection and development of natural systems. These include maintenance and investments in ecological recovery around the Besòs and Llobregat river areas, Collserola park, the metropolitan beaches and an accelerated environmental recovery of the old Garraf landfill, among other projects. Projects already under way, such as undergrounding power lines and the landscaping of road infrastructure will also be particularly important.

The agreement was approved at a meeting of the Metropolitan Council on 25 April. The proposal came from the International Relations Area, and according to its vice-president, Alfred Bosch, it ‘clearly increases the metropolitan resources for the conservation of our natural heritage, sustainability and energy efficiency'. The proposal also involves a paradigm shift since ‘it includes projects that are metropolitan in scope and not merely a distribution of resources among municipalities', which does not rule out each municipal council being able to make its requests outside the scope of the AMB programme.