Mayors Linked to the Elche-Alicante Functional Region Demand Better Infrastructure and Public Transport Connections

The Business Union of the Province of Alicante (UEPAL) organised a new edition of the Forum on the Elche-Alicante Functional Region this Tuesday, where the focus was given to the municipalities surrounding these two major cities. The invited mayors have emphasised the need to establish new communication systems, both through the creation of new infrastructure for the movement of people and goods, and through public transport systems that connect the cities, as well as the other municipalities in their area of influence.

The meeting featured an introduction by Manuel Desantes, Professor of Private International Law at UA, who advocated for a non-radial model, articulated between these two populations with the capacity to unite not only cities but also civil society as a whole in a collective project that transcends the local sphere.

In the opening of the meeting, UEPAL President César Quintanilla explained the objective of this Forum, which aims to advance the project of creating an Alicante-Elche Functional Region, where these two major cities combine their strengths to boost the entire province of Alicante. With this same mission, this edition gave voice to the mayors of San Vicente del Raspeig, José Rafael Pascual; El Campello, Juan José Berenguer; Aspe, Antonio Puerto; Xixona, Isabel López; Crevillent, Lourdes Aznar; and Santa Pola, Loreto Serrano.

"These municipalities must also participate in the configuration of this Functional Region. This forum – following several meetings between the mayors of Elche and Alicante – aims to expand the circle, because the Functional Region transcends Elche and Alicante, and becomes a provincial project. Where none of them should stop being what they are, but where all should have the capacity to participate and express their opinions in the design of this global plan for the province," he stated.

In this regard, the President of the Provincial Council, Toni Pérez, emphasised "the need to find common ground to advance the Functional Region project, with two key elements: Strength and Unity." Pérez highlighted the need to "find meeting points that we generally find when there is a common interest. For this, we must broaden our perspective and understand that the Functional Region operates with people moving through these territories for different reasons. And this obliges us to think about the best connectivity and services, not thinking about the small environment in which we live, but in a broad territory like our province."

The host mayor, José Rafael Pascual, expressed being "very convinced and yes, we believe in the possibility of developing this Functional Region," where San Vicente must play a decisive role due to its population, geographical location, and business configuration. A city that already has many direct connection points with other municipalities, especially with Alicante.

For the mayor of Xixona, Isabel López, it is essential to implement connectivity plans, especially in those industrially significant areas and their business parks, which suffer from a poor layout of the current CV-800 road, which must be resolved. This is a debt of the Administrations with the business fabric, where nougat and ice cream are ambassadors, but where international companies operate from other sectors. In this same sense, the first mayor of Santa Pola, Loreto Serrano, described her municipality as an "island" due to the access difficulties through the N-332, the road that connects with Elche and the connection with its industrial park.

The mayor of El Campello, Juan José Berenguer, pointed out that all municipalities have different characteristics that strengthen the entire territory. The first mayor of this tourist city believes that there are already teamwork models, such as the Costa Blanca brand, in tourism, and that projects in other areas can be developed along these lines. Berenguer indicated that there are projects that allow for the articulation of union in municipalities, such as the urban boulevard that should be the N-332 or the Green Corridor of the Monnegre River, which connects to Tibi.

In the case of Aspe, Antonio Puerto has called for greater agility in urban planning procedures to be able to have industrial land more quickly and flexibly to attract companies and generate employment. In this same line, the mayor of Crevillent, Lourdes Aznar, proposed the tram connection from the line that connects Alicante with the Airport towards Elche and ending in Crevillent and the need to execute the third lane in the A-7 motorway layout.

In addition to infrastructure, all the invited mayors have expressed their conviction of the need to articulate coordinated actions among all the municipalities and the cities of Elche and Alicante to work together on aspects related to tourism, the service and commercial sector, or the provision of cultural and sports facilities that allow everyone to offer their potential with a more collaborative than competitive spirit.