The City Council of Tarragona foresees taking to the plenary session of May 22 the transfer of 10,000 square meters of the Tabacalera to the Ministry of Culture to promote the future state library and accelerate a processing that the consistory wants to leave on track before the summer.
The step is framed within the will to shield the investment and pave the way for the signing of the agreement between the mayor, Rubén Viñuales, and the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun. The operation comes after the political agreement sealed on March 2 between the State, the City Council and the Generalitat to locate the new facility in the old tobacco factory.
A cession to activate the project
The municipal forecast is to approve in May the handover of this space to the Ministry so that it can assume the drafting of the construction project. The estimated investment is at least 20 million euros charged to the state coffers, a figure that the local government wants to secure in the final stretch of the state legislature.
The technicians of Plaça de la Font are finalizing the necessary reports to take the proposal to the plenary session. Once that procedure has been overcome, the Ministry will be able to advance in the definition of the future library, after its specialists visited the premises on November 28.
The agreement reached in March contemplates that the library be distributed in three floors of the noble building and in the space of the Assecador, one of the most singular pieces of the complex.
Generalitat and City Council outline the plan of uses
In parallel to the transfer, the Generalitat and the City Council are working on the usage plan that must specify how the spaces will be organized before raising a proposal to the Ministry.
"Work is being done with the City Council on an initial distribution of spaces. We have already held a first meeting" - Departament de Cultura del Govern
"It will be presented to the Ministry" - Department of Culture of the Government
The Minister of Culture, Sònia Hernández, already announced on January 21 that the forecast was to have that document in the first half of this year. Then she also explained that the idea involves opening the complex to the city with a promenade and equipping it with an auditorium.
"The first location must be an open and permeable space, which will connect with the interior gardens. It will be the reception point, for information, with a reading room, others for exhibitions and study classrooms" - Sònia Hernández, Councillor of Culture
That approach includes an auditorium for 250 people designed for medium-format shows, presentations, concerts, and other cultural activities. Regarding the Assecador, Hernández highlighted its architectural value and its possibilities as an open-plan space.
Support for the impetus and criticisms for the lack of concreteness
The delegate of the Govern in Camp de Tarragona, Lucía López, maintains that the implicated administrations work in a coordinated manner to carry out the project and highlights the priority that, in her opinion, the heritage of Tarragona has for the current Catalan executive.
"I am aware that work is actively underway and in coordination with the different administrations involved in the project" - Lucía López, delegate of the Govern in the Camp de Tarragona
"This Government is clear that Tarragona's heritage is a priority" - Lucía López, delegate of the Government in Camp de Tarragona
The calendar, however, does not clear all the doubts in the opposition. ERC and PP question the lack of budgetary specifics and the definitive fit of the project. Maria Roig, from Esquerra, demands clearer figures and deadlines and regrets that the library continues without tangible progress despite the announcements of the last years.
"What is needed are budgetary specifics. The library cannot keep waiting" - Maria Roig, Esquerra
"In these last three years, since the announcement in the Republican mandate, we have not had any news" - Maria Roig, Esquerra
From the PP, Maria Mercè Martorell rejects the chosen location and considers that adapting the structure of the Tabacalera is not the best solution for a heritage building of these characteristics.
"The Library must be installed in another location" - Maria Mercè Martorell, PP
Political pressure to not lose the calendar
Junts and En Comú Podem defend accelerating the processing. Jordi Sendra vindicates the role of his party in unblocking the agreement in Madrid and asks not to lose the administrative pace to ensure the investment.
"The priority is to process it quickly, shield the investment and turn the Tabacalera into an opportunity for the city" - Jordi Sendra, Junts
In the same vein, Jordi Collado, from ECP, underlines the need to close as soon as possible the pending documentation while political commitment from the Ministry with the project exists.
"Now that we have a minister like Urtasun committed to the project, we cannot lose the opportunity" - Jordi Collado, ECP
The plenary session of May 22 is thus shaping up as a key date to measure if the project takes a decisive administrative step in the Tabacalera. With little more than a year of state legislature ahead, the political margin narrows and the City Council wants to leave an operation tied up that it considers strategic for the city and for the future of the heritage complex.