The Industrial Future of Alcoi Threatens the Stability of Its Municipal Government

The need to expand industrial land has been a longstanding debate in the governance of Alcoi. The city's natural setting poses a significant obstacle for providing its productive sector with space to grow or, at the very least, to prevent relocation to other municipalities. Alcoi has not added a single square metre of industrial land for over 20 years, a fact that business associations and part of the city's political landscape have repeatedly highlighted to end this 'blockade'.

Just a week ago, almost unexpectedly, an agreement was announced to promote the creation of the so-called Alcoi Sud business park, located in the La Canal area, next to the municipal boundary of Ibi. The agreement was forged with the presence of consellers Vicente Martínez Mus and Marián Cano, as well as the main representatives of the city's business sector.

This project, in many ways, revives old conflicts from the past, which resulted in a long judicial journey that eventually buried the Alcoinnova project. That business park, promoted by the food group La Española, also eyed La Canal for establishment, but its potential impact on the Molinar aquifer — which supplies water to the city — led the judiciary to reject the project and dismiss that location as a base for an industrial park.

At least, that was the belief until a couple of years ago, when the business community once again claimed that area as a candidate for hosting a new and much-desired industrial park. To dispel fears of a potential impact on the aquifer, the Alcoi Chamber of Commerce commissioned a project that ruled out such a situation.

That document has been the seed of the agreement forged just a few days ago at the Alcoi Chamber of Commerce's own facilities. With this agreement, the Generalitat commits to processing and approving the Special Plan that will allow the reclassification of land to create industrial land, as well as drafting, processing, and approving urban planning in direct management.

The Minister of Innovation, Industry, Commerce, and Tourism, Marián Cano, stated after the signing of the agreement that it "responds to clear demands that have been raised for some time, with the aim of ensuring that Alcoi continues to be the industrial benchmark it has always been." However, not everyone celebrates this agreement with the same enthusiasm, as part of the political spectrum of the Alcoi council opposes the project.

Knowing that his government partners and part of the Alcoi public opinion are wary of the project, the mayor of Alcoi, socialist Toni Francés, assured after the agreement was signed that "sustainability will be a non-negotiable principle to ensure that this initiative is viable, balanced, and environmentally friendly."

The absence of the Industry Councillor, Elisa Guillem, from Compromís, a party with which the socialists govern the city of Alcoi in minority, was notable at the event. The Valencianist formation has shown its rejection of the Alcoi Sud project since the beginning of the legislature. Its spokesperson, Álex Cerradelo, calls for industrial growth to come through the 700,000 m² already contemplated by the General Urban Planning Plan in another area of the municipal territory.

Guanyar Alcoi, a preferred partner in the Alcoi opposition and with whom the bipartite has been relying on to push through most proposals in this mandate, has shown a more forceful stance.

The spokesperson for the citizen platform, Sergi Rodríguez, believes that a red line has been crossed, making any future understanding impossible. "The government is fully aware that any step to allocate the La Canal area to uses that endanger the Molinar aquifer would make any agreement with us unfeasible. Our willingness for dialogue and agreements ends with the signing of this protocol."

This scenario leaves the socialist government of Toni Francés in a compromised position, having crossed the red lines imposed by its government partner and main ally, and with a rising right that, in the last elections, already questioned the PSOE's fourth consecutive mandate.