La Seu d’Urgell reaffirms the technological hub project

Andorra la Vellathe plenary sessionCity Hall of Seu d’Urgell has approved by a large majority one motion to support the development of the Pirineu Tech Mountain business initiative. The proposal presented by Together for the Headquarters has also received the support of the government team (commitment) id’ERC. The two representatives of the CUP they voted against it.

In the statement of reasons, the spokesman for Junts, Jordi Fabregarecalled that the last legislature had already started threading the needle with this project, created in May 2022 with 24 founding partners, and presented publicly, with the support of a good number of administrations and companies.

Fàbrega considers it necessary for the City Council to reiterate its commitment to the technological ‘hub’ due to the “important changes” currently taking place in this sector, due to its impact on the way of working and due to the need for the city and the region not to stay behind

In addition, the deputy also points out that the new technologies are “a sector that offers stable and qualified work, especially for young people and women”and believes that consolidating a technology center can help the goal of return talented people to Alt Urgell who has left because they often do not find jobs here suited to their profile.

He also claims that for now it is “the only initiative of this kind in the Upper Pyrenees” and this can make it easier to receive resources to develop it. Regarding this last point, Fàbrega mentioned that a year ago, in December 2023, the Parliament approved a motion urging the Government to allocate resources.

And as for the location, from Junts they maintain that the Citadel of Castellciutat it would be the most suitable because it has a lot of space and, for this reason, it can also host new services such as the IRTA headquarters in the Pyrenees or the Institut de la Llet. For all that, they see it as necessary to “reiterate the City Council’s support for the project and continue to collaborate to make it possible as soon as possible”.

On behalf of the management team, John Barrera showed support for the idea although he remembers that when Compromís joined the government team they found “that the project had not progressed for various reasons” and that “during this time there was a decline because the companies had discrepancies”. The mayor of the Seu mentions that precisely for a meeting has been scheduled for this Wednesday in which the name and concept of the ‘hub’ will be changed with the desire to “give it a new impetus”.

according to RadioSeuJoan Barrera defends that in recent months the City Council has continued to give external support to the initiative, although they think that “as it was proposed at the beginning it was not complete and it is necessary to consider how it should continue, so that it is not incompatible with other local or research needs”.

The council also mentions that the council does not foresee items for this purpose in the 2025 budget that they are now preparing and that the one that was there for this year has not been used. For this reason, they trust that the Department of Business of the Generalitat will bet on it financially. In any case, Barrera emphasizes that they will continue to do everything they can to promote the proposal.

The ERC spokesperson, Francis Viaplanapointed out that the technological hub “is a difficult project”, but he believes that “what cannot be is that the City Council is not there and that this declines for this reason”, because “there are many issues behind and you have to face it.” For this reason, Viaplana considers that “the city council must support the project”. So, Esquerra places the council to support “any business initiative, because we are not about to reject them” taking into account the existing difficulty in attracting qualified economic activity to the Pyrenees.

For the CUP, on the other hand, Michael Albero reiterated his rejection of this project because he believes that “it is done without taking into account the needs of the territory” nor its socio-economic fabric, and sees it as “a copy of the hubs of urban areas” such as the 22@ in Barcelona or the Turó de Gardeny in Lleida.

From the anti-capitalist formation, they question “that young people can be returned without guaranteeing public services and access to housing” and, likewise, they reject that among the promoters there is “a long list of companies from the IBEX”.

Albero said, verbatim, that this model will attract “pooches or people with money” and that will raise the rents of the flats. In this sense, he considers that they have the duty to defend the point of view of their voters, despite the fact that they are a minority in the Headquarters, and to “give visibility” to the his proposals and his model, in which they consider “the primary sector to be very important”. for the proposals of together”.

This point of view of the CUP was rejected by the other groups. Joan Barrera defends that “no hub will be built if there are no viable companies that are of interest to the territory” and that they will never support “pharaonic projects” that move away from local needs, but he adds that ” the hub must be formed by powerful companies that attract work not from poochesbut of qualified people who want to work in the territory”.

For this reason, Barrera points out that this project “shouldn’t scare us” and that if it is well planned “it should allow us to project the future and generate new models”. For his part, Jordi Fàbrega emphasizes that the ‘hub’ must serve to “help local companies” and that it can be attractive “for any student from the Headquarters who goes to study engineering and then cannot return , or who studies computer science at the Joan Brudieu Institute”, which “in many cases come from humble families”. Fàbrega mentioned at the same time that the CUP has also always voted against the creation and consolidation of INEFC Pirineus. Finally, Francesc Viaplana replied that “we don’t understand how the hub would affect depopulation or the primary sector”, and argued that the target audience of this new project could be many young people who have left for the rest of Catalonia, or even in the rest of Europe, and who would like to return but cannot because there are few research centers in the Pyrenees.