Mariano Rajoy stresses that, with the opening of the final section of the A-7 motorway, it is now possible to travel from Algeciras to France on high-capacity roads

Granada

In his speech at the event to officially open the Carchuna-Castell de Ferro section, in Granada, the President of the Government described the importance of this project to complete the A-7 motorway as "extraordinary". Mariano Rajoy stressed that "successive governments of Spain have been working for many years" on this motorway and that it is now possible to travel from Algeciras to France on high-capacity roads.

The President of the Government also referred to the difficulty of the project, "one of the most complex to have been undertaken in Spain in recent decades", and congratulated the construction company and workers responsible for carrying it out.

Mariano Rajoy explained that the new section will benefit some 13,000 vehicles per day - a figure that will be much higher in summer - as well as companies, fruit and vegetable centres, and tourism. "Every public works project, whether railway improvements or road improvements, is important for the people because they make life more pleasant, convenient and cheaper in every sense, but they are also enormously significant in terms of economic affairs", he said.

Infrastructure projects, a source of wealth and jobs

Pool Moncloa / D. MudarraThe goal for any government, he added, is to improve the well-being and wealth of society. To do so, companies need to be able to undertake their activity as competitively as possible. "To be competitive, we need to do many things in terms of infrastructure projects, R&D and taxes, but that will also help us create jobs, which is, at the end of the day, what a rich country does", he said.

In this regard, the President of the Government recalled that Spain will be the fastest-growing country in the European Union this year and will be the fastest-growing major economy in 2016.

Mariano Rajoy highlighted the "firm" commitment by the government to Andalusia, which has been reflected in 5.89 billion euros of investment over the last four years and also in the General State Budget for 2016.

Furthermore, he said that other highly important projects are already under way in this region, such as bringing a high-speed railway link to Granada.