Highlights from the annual meeting “The Mayor Responds”
In the annual meeting “The Mayor Responds”, Jaume Collboni announced the main points for the overall transformation of the city by 2035, with a total investment of more than 10,600 million euros. During the ceremony, the Mayor weighed up the first few months of the current term of office and explained the main measures that will be implemented and the investment plan for the period up to 2027.
The projects being rolled out in Barcelona, which the Mayor described as the “transformation of the century”, will affect 5.5 million square metres of space, an area equivalent to three quarters of L’Eixample, with public funding from the City Council and other administrations. The work up to 2025 will be structured into six areas:
- Infrastructures and sustainable mobility, with the enlargement of the metro and the transformation of La Sagrera
- Development of growth areas for the local economy, with the enlargement of Fira de Barcelona, the 22@ Nord and the transformation of the Besòs area and La Marina del Prat Vermell
- Talent and science, with the rollout of the Ciutadella del Coneixement knowledge hub and the Mercat del Peix
- Health, with the new Hospital Clínic and enlargements to other hospitals
- Sport, the America’s Cup and opening up the city to the sea
- Culture, with the new provincial library
“The Mayor Responds” was held at the DHUB and is an annual meeting organised by the Association of Journalists. Jaume Collboni also weighed up the first 250 days of this term of office, highlighting measures such as the Pla Endreça, the Pla Clima Escola, the deal with Incàsol to create more housing, the promotion of eleven new primary healthcare centres, the agreement to cover the Ronda de Dalt and the boost to the projects to revamp La Rambla and Via Laietana. To make this transformation possible, Collboni emphasised the investments planned, with notable actions such as recovering unused spaces equivalent to 32 blocks of L’Eixample, renovating Av. Meridiana as far as Fabra i Puig, C/ Balmes and Pg. Mar Bella, four libraries, three nursery schools and six new sports centres, the remodelling of four municipal markets and the project to regain the Teatre Arnau.
The city of 5.5 million
The Mayor expressed the desire to generate new centralities and move towards a “truly metropolitan city of 5.5 million inhabitants, with no outskirts”, and also spoke of the opportunity offered by the new Master Plan on Metropolitan Urban Planning.
