The government team has proceeded with the submission of the new projects to be financed by the Local Sustainability Fund within the scope of the Plan E. This plan will be allocating Palma 42.7 million euros in total, out of which 34.2 million euros will be allocated to investments and the remaining 8.5 million will be allocated to the current expenses required to guarantee the continuation of citizen services, especially in the social and educational sector. Among the novelties of this new Fund for 2010, the city councils will be entitled to assign up to 20% of the allocated sum to the financing of the current expenses required for the development of social programmes that are of municipal competence, that is, mainly programmes related to education and assistance services provided to dependent people.

Out of these 42.7 million euros, the City Council has approved, until now, the submission of new projects amounting to a total of 13.16 million euros. The remaining projects will be submitted for approval in the course of the upcoming government assemblies.

In addition to the two green belts (the Green Corridor along Palma's Maritime Façade and the Ses Vies Park Corridor), the Government Junta has approved further seven projects.

The projects approved until now will create 204 jobs.

Project criteria

The new projects submitted for financing by the Local Sustainability Fund within the scope of the Plan E shall contribute towards the improvement of certain areas within the city, towards an environmentally more sustainable city, towards the provision of citizen services, mainly educational and social programmes and, finally, towards the integration of new technologies in the city's daily life.

Most of these new projects will not affect the road traffic. The number of works to be carried in 2010 out is much less than the number of works that were carried out within the scope of the Plan E in 2009, that accomplished a total of 117 projects within Palma. All projects planned for 2010 reflect the efforts made to improve the life in our city and besides serve as a measure to foster employment in times of economic recession as we are experiencing nowadays.

Most interesting projects

The two large green belts (the Maritime Façade Corridor and the Ses Vies Corridor) and the projects approved by the Government Junta, such as the demolition of the old Sayonara hotel, located on a large public area in the El Terreno district, clearly reflect this objective. An underground car-park with trees will be built in its place.

Besides, the construction of a building for the provision of intergenerational assistance to elderly people and youngsters in the city centre (C/ Socors, C/ Enric Lladó and C/ Fra Cuñado) is worth highlighting at this point too. The new building shall become a meeting point aimed at fostering interpersonal relationships between elderly people and youngsters. The centre will offer community rooms, a PC room, a gym, a community orchard, a laundry, parking spaces for bycicles and ambulances, among other facilities. The centre will be built using recyclable material and integrates renewable energy technologies and energy-saving measures (the construction budget amounts to 1.4 million euros).

Among the approved projects, there are several projects that reflect the efforts made to improve our city.

Some of these projects are detailed below:

- The building of a swimming pool in the Son Ferriol sports' centre

- The landscape improvement of the Jonquet talus and the building of a staircase on the last stretch in order to improve the access from Plaça del Vapor to the Passeig Marítim.

- The conservation and maintenance of the buildings making up the Can Ribes industrial premises located on C/ Brotad in the La Soledat district.

- The creation of a web platform to manage vocational training courses.

Plan E 2009

The City Council of Palma submitted a total of 117 projects, amounting to a total of 67.8 million euros, to be financed by the State Fund for Local Investment 2009. These projects were aimed at creating jobs for 2,000 people. The priority criteria taken into account last year were: accessibility, the territorial extension of the projects across Palma's districts, the improvement of citizen services, the improvement of the infrastructure in the districts and the connection of the respective districts and, of course, the creation of jobs.