The Vice-President for Economy and Acting Regional Minister of Economy, Enterprise and Innovation, Francisco Conde, the Acting Regional Minister of Rural Affairs, José González, and the Regional Delegate of the Xunta in Lugo, Javier Arias, participated this morning in an informative meeting with the CEO of Altri, Jose Sonar, and the general manager of the company Impulsa Galicia, Enyd López.

The Galician government guarantees maximum administrative flexibility as it considers this initiative a strategic industrial project.

Conde stresses that this factory fits into the industrial-sustainability binomial and exemplifies the commitment to public-private collaboration.

3 May 2022 

The Vice-President for Economy and Acting Regional Minister of Economy, Enterprise and Innovation, Francisco Conde, the Acting Regional Minister of Rural Affairs, José González, and the Regional Delegate of the Xunta in Lugo, Javier Arias, participated in an informative meeting with the CEO of Altri, Jose Sonar, and the general manager of the company Impulsa Galicia, Enyd López, celebrated this morning in Lugo, on the Palas de Rei textile factory project.

The Galician government considers that this project will contribute to industrial transformation by creating value throughout the Galician forestry chain, through an investment of 800 million euros and the forecast creation of more than 2500 direct and indirect jobs.

Conde stressed that this factory fits into the industrial-sustainability binomial because it meets the criteria set by the European Commission for the development of a green economy, and exemplifies the commitment to public-private collaboration to carry out the major projects with which Galicia aspires to European funds. In this regard, he reiterated the need for the central government to be committed, as this is an opportunity in which all administrations must do their part.

The Acting Vice-President for Economy explained that the Xunta has given Altri the utmost confidence to bet on establishing itself in Galicia, considering the industrial project to be strategic, in order to ensure administrative agility.

For his part, the Acting Regional Minister for the Rural Environment, José González, stressed that this initiative “has no equal anywhere else in the world”, by the fact of closing the production cycle and also do so with closeness to the resource, i.e. the wood.

González defined the project as a “success story” of public-private collaboration and recalled that it was configured from the outset as a sustainable forest management initiative, starting from a resource of Galicia’s own, “very important in this province”, such as wood. In this respect, he pointed out that our region accounts for half of all timber harvests in Spain, with 10 million cubic metres last year, and that we have “great potential for growth”, because the figure for 2015 was 7.6 million.

In addition, the head of the Rural Environment Department described the project as “clearly bankable” within the framework of the Next Generation funds, because it meets two fundamental requirements, such as sustainability and circular economy. Besides, the regional minister linked this initiative with the development of the Galician Forestry Plan 2021 – 2040, in the sense that it represents a “clear commitment to the certification of our forests”.  A certification that, he added, in the Galician case is led by environmental organisations “that are accrediting that in Galicia there is a multifunctional, biodiverse and orderly forest”.

At the meeting, it was explained that the location of the factory was carried out from a technical evaluation process in which 46 possible sites were studied taking into account various criteria such as the availability of a sufficient and constant water resource; the availability of 150 hectares of land; the flat orography with the possibility of expansion; compatibility with urban, heritage and environmental regulations; proximity to wood and to energy and transport infrastructures, as well as the distance to population centres.

This project will be an important boost for the rural environment and for the sustainable management of Galicia’s forest and forestry.