The President of the Provincial Council of León, Gerardo Alvarez Coureland its counterpart in the Principality of Asturias, Adrien Barbonsigned this Wednesday the agreement for the supply of electricity to the Asturian ski resort of Fuentes de Invierno through the Leonese winter facilities of San Isidro. Specifically, the neighboring community will pay the provincial institution a total of 1,815,257 euros, which will be paid in ten annual installments of 181,525.70 euros, to cover the use of the electrical infrastructure used by the Asturian plant, adapting to the energy demand that requires it.
Thanks to the planned electrification, the Asturian station will be able to operate in a more sustainable way, freeing itself from the dependence on generators that it has had since its opening in 2007. The president of the Provincial Council, accompanied by the deputy for Tourism, Octavio Gonzalezstressed that this is “a fundamental step to continue promoting collaboration between León and Asturias in key infrastructure projects.”
Gerardo Álvarez Courel describes “historic” is the fact that “represents the unblocking of a situation that has been entrenched for almost two decades” and this allows Fuentes de Invierno “to be supplied with electrical energy in an efficient and competitive way.” Likewise, he clarified that this collaboration between the two administrations “is a crucial step to advance towards the unification of the San Isidro and Fuentes de Invierno stations.”
For his part, Adrián Barbón said he was convinced that the signature signed is “essential for the links between León and Asturias”, since it will allow “working on the next step: the mergerthe joint work of the two stations to create a large infrastructure that unites both parts of the mountain range. “We have achieved something that has cost a lot of money,” stressed Barcón, who added that “today we can celebrate the triumph of useful politics, of what is achieved through dialogue when there is a will to move forward.”
Also participating in the event were the Deputy of Tourism of the Provincial Council of León, Octavio González; the Minister of Culture, Linguistic Policy and Sports of the Principality of Asturias, Vanesa Gutiérrez González; and the Mayor of Aller, Juan Carlos Iglesias, among other positions and public and political representatives of the region.
In addition, after signing the agreement at the Fuentes de Invierno services building, the presidents, the deputy and the councilor traveled to Puebla de Lillo, the municipality where the San Isidro winter resort is located, where they were received by their deputy mayor, Teodomiro Fernández.
PP criticism
The Popular Party Group of the Provincial Council of León has denounced the fact that the provincial institution is “stealing” three million euros from the people of León by accepting the 1.8 million euros that the Principality of Asturias will pay for the connection of the power line between San Isidro and Fontanas del Inverno.
The “popular” spokesperson, David Fernandezstressed that the project “was oversized almost 20 years ago to 12 million euros due to the commitment of the Government of Asturias to assume a significant part of the work”, which “did not happen and caused significant disagreements for almost two decades that ended with the balance agreement” signed between the Provincial Council of León and the Principality.
For the “popular”, it is “a joke” that the provincial institution acts as “the financial entity of the Principality” admitting that the payment is divided into ten annuities while “Asturias has an annual budget of 6.3 billion euros”, compared to the “a little over 200 million” of the Provincial Council of León.
