A total of 29 local entities in Granada have benefited this year. The On-board SIDA aimed to improve public equipment and infrastructure that contributes to establishing the population in small municipalities. Minister of Justice, Local Administration, and Public Service, José Antonio Nieto, presented the grant resolutions for these subsidies, totaling over 832,000 euros. The mayors of the municipalities benefited in a way that projects to improve educational centers, sports and sociocultural facilities, as well as buildings providing municipal services.
The Ministry of Justice, Local Administration, and Public Service call for a subsidy line each year, targeted at municipalities with less than 20,000 inhabitants at risk of depopulation. Granada is the province that receives most of the resources from this aid line, a quarter of the overall budget (3.5 million), as it has the highest number of municipalities, many of which are small and require special support.
In fact, the majority of the beneficiary localities have fewer than a thousand residents, and their census has decreased over the years, with some having 20% fewer inhabitants than in 2002. «We must pay attention and help municipal governments reverse this situation,» the counselor emphasized, stating that «the key lies in the municipalities and institutional collaboration to enable them to participate and provide opportunities for their residents.»
In total, 832,933.77 euros for the province will be distributed in cities like Villanueva por Las Torres, Morelábor, Cogollos de Guadix, Gor, Agrón, Cacína, and their local autonomous entity (ELA) Turro, Beas de Guadix, Dehesas de Guadix, Alicún de Ortega, Murtas, Alquife, Adeire, Válena, Jayena, Lobras, Gobernador, Almegijar, Trevélez, Castilléjar, Castril, El Valle, Jerez del Marquesado, Bérchules, Rubite, and Torre-Cardenas. The latter two belong to the municipality of Nevada.
With a maximum amount of 30,000 euros per municipality, these funds allow municipalities to improve schools or provide sports facilities like paddle tennis courts, football fields, or municipal sports halls, essential for attracting families with children and young people. They can also reform sociocultural activity centers for older residents and work on premises and air conditioning systems to reduce energy consumption and associated costs, contributing to sustainability.
Nieto defended the goal of ensuring that rural Andalusian residents enjoy the same services as those living in a city, highlighting that in addition to the quality of life offered by small municipalities like those in Sierra de Guadix or Alpujarras, it presents an opportunity to correct the current imbalance in population distribution within the community.
Andalusia does not have a generalized depopulation issue like other territories, but over half of Andalusians live in around thirty capitals and large cities, while in Sierra and internal areas, such as the municipalities of Granada represented at the event, there has been a slow but continuous loss of inhabitants over the years.
The ministry is working on a strategy to address the demographic challenge, which will be cross-cutting and aimed at changing the traditionally negative image, with affordable housing, schools with very low ratios, and public services without waiting lists.
The counselor appreciated the ability of mayors in small municipalities to optimize the financial resources they receive, making the most of a 30,000 euro aid because they are used to maximizing it.
Over 1.5 million for municipalities affected by Dana
Before delivering Meinfra aid resolutions, Nieto visited the city of Baza, where he held a meeting with Mayor Pedro Justo Ramos to first understand their projects and needs, within the ongoing dialogue of the Andalusian government with local administrations on an equal footing. In this context, he recalled that the government of Juanma Moreno has streamlined bureaucratic processes and double checks for municipalities to eliminate obstacles to municipal development. The cooperation plan for municipalities has increased year by year, reaching a record figure of 2,375 million in 2025, also addressing extraordinary situations like Dana in November of last year.
Indeed, Baza was one of the affected locations that received aid to repair damages (55,121.08 euros). Additionally, 14 of the 29 locations that benefited from Meinfra subsidies have already received over 1.5 million euros in advance payments.
Nieto also mentioned the program for training digital residents in municipalities with less than 20,000 inhabitants, launched by the Ministry in collaboration with Diputacia de Granada, with an investment of 1,178,160 euros to train over 5,000 residents in electronic administration, online banking services, websites, or e-commerce.
Only the Ministry of Justice, Local Administration, and Public Service allocated over four million euros to municipalities in the province of Granada, not including co-financing for works promoting agricultural work (PFA), which not only provides jobs for agricultural workers to complement their income when there are no campaigns, but also enables improvements in municipalities, like the renovations carried out by the Baza local council on several streets and a ditch, with an investment of half a million euros.
The mayor of Baza thanked the counselor for his visit to the local council, where he signed the Book of Honor and for selecting the municipality for Meinfra aid, appreciated by counterparts in neighboring towns and other regions of Granada.