The Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Mines of the Junta de Andalucía, Jorge Paradela, signed on Friday with the President of the Municipal Institute of Economic Development and Employment of Córdoba (IMDEEC), Blanca Torrent, in the presence of the Mayor, José María María Bellido, a colorful work agreement within the framework of business attraction in Córdoba.
After signing the agreement, Jorge Paradela announced that the window to submit projects and apply for the related aid for the project of equitable transition tractor to advanced logistics, endowed with 15.4 million euros, will «open in May.»
This collaboration agreement aims to take advantage of all opportunities for industrial investments and business implementation in the warmth of the future logistics base of the Army of the Earth in Córdoba, «the province that is already one of the main logistical nodes, due to its central position in the Mediterranean and the corridors,» he said.
Paradela recalled that the European Fund for Sustainable Transition contributes 35.1 million to the province of Córdoba to address new industrial opportunities promoted after the closure of the Puente Nuevo thermal power plant. Among them, the council identified, in close collaboration with economic and commercial agents, sustainable industrial projects in the Guadato valley and the potential for advanced logistics.
Meanwhile, the counselor assessed the signing of the agreement to «generate another tool to improve the efficiency of the industry related to logistics,» to «create an ecosystem that facilitates the implementation of the logistics industry in the city by both administrations.»
The mayor classified it as «part of a broader policy, as we share common goals in Córdoba between administrations like the council and the local council for an economic revival in the city, which is related to reindustrialization.»
In this regard, he added, «There are many good things happening,» something that «is due to the collaboration in strategic projects declared by both administrations, each of which contributes and carries out tasks.» Among them, he mentioned Cunext, Hitachi, and the army logistics base.
Helping the large industry
The counselor, accompanied by the Secretary General of Industry and Mines of the Board of Directors, José Javier Alonso; the delegate of the Andalusian government in Córdoba, Adolfo Molina; and the territorial delegate of his ministry, Agustín López, also presented two of the main tools of assistance for the industrial sector that his ministry launched and added to a volume of incentives of 400 million euros, 250 million from funds and 21 industry funds.
The first aid package is called «integrated incentives,» because, as Paradela explained, «it follows the Andalusian industrial fabric in competitiveness while also focusing on energy efficiency.» The counselor emphasized that «it is a very new tool, launched for the first time, marked for our industrial companies, investing in improving or expanding their productive capacities while also undergoing their own energy transition, incorporating renewable energies and improvements and actions for energy efficiency,» he explained.
The aid will be implemented through four action programs: one focused on strengthening the value chains of the 19 most strategic industrial sectors for Andalusia within the action plan, will have 109 million euros. A second program, equipped with 51 million, will be oriented towards boosting an industrial ecosystem around renewable hydrogen. The third program will focus on sustainable mining and will have 40 million euros, while the fourth program, aimed at improving and modernizing productive spaces, will have a budget of 50 million.
The four programs are in two main lines of assistance. The first, with an emphasis on industrial competitiveness, will establish aid through a competitive consistency regime, allowing the selection of projects that have a greater positive economic and social impact on the territory. The second line of assistance will promote energy improvement and efficient energy use in the value chains of industrial sectors, sustainable mining, and productive spaces in Andalusia. In this case, the aid will be granted in order, as long as they meet the requirements established in the calls.
«It is an assistance tool that adapts to the real needs of our productive fabric and responds to common challenges,» said the counselor, who stressed that «it offers a wide range of possibilities, with over 30 types of actions that can receive incentives covering both competitiveness and energy efficiency.»
Paradela also specified that «the first aids, corresponding to the value chains of industrial sectors, will be called in May and can be applied for in June.» The goal is to mobilize one billion in investments and generate 2,100 jobs.
Administrative simplification prevailed in the design of this new aid, establishing a single window to request both lines of stimulation, regardless of the management center responsible for processing them.
Therefore, the General Secretariat of Industry and Mines will manage the competitive aid, while the incentives related to energy improvement and efficiency will be processed by the Andalusian Energy Agency, an entity attached to the ministry. Another highlight of the design of this tool is the incorporation of a high degree of process automation and robotization, with the main goal of accelerating and reducing response times.
Third call for complementary incentives
In addition, the counselor explained that the window is already open for large industries to apply for assistance from the third call of the complementary stimulation program to the regional economic incentives (IER), which has a budget of 150 million funded by the Board of Directors with its own funds for the 2025 and 2026 exercises. Production, from the aerospace set.
«It is a tool that sets Andalusia apart from the incentive offerings of other autonomous communities and allows us to be one of the European regions with the highest percentage for large industrial investments,» he said, adding that in the two previous calls of the Board of Directors, they supported 14 large investments in tractors in the region, totaling approximately 200 million.
These two aid programs are in addition to the 400 million aid from the Junta de Andalucía for SMEs and large industrial companies, to Whis. SMEs in the industry, or incentives to support the basic infrastructure of industrial projects in the community.
FUENTE