A total of 29 local entities in Granada have benefited this year from the Onboard AIDS program aimed at improving 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 (in Granada) the subsidy resolutions for these grants, totaling over 832,000 euros, benefiting the mayors of the municipalities in such a way that projects to improve educational centers, sports facilities, sociocultural facilities, as well as buildings providing municipal services.
The Ministry of Justice, Local Administration, and Public Service call for a grant program every year, specifically allocated to municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants at risk of depopulation. Granada is the province that receives the majority of the resources from this support program, accounting for a quarter of the overall budget (3.5 million), due to having the highest number of municipalities, many of which are small and therefore require special support.
In fact, most of the beneficiary locations have fewer than a thousand residents, and their census has decreased over the years, with some having 20% fewer inhabitants than in 2002. «The key lies in the municipalities and institutional collaboration so they can engage and provide opportunities to their residents,» emphasized the councilor.
A total of 832,933.77 euros for the province will be distributed among cities such as Villanueva por Las Torres, Morelábor, Cogollos de Guadix, Gor, Agrón, Cacín and its local autonomous entity (ELA) Turro, Beas de Guadix, Dehesas de Guadix, Alicún de Ortega, Murtas, Alquife, Aldeire, Válena, Jayena, Lobras, Gobernador, Almegíjar, Trevélez, Castilléjar, Castril, El Valle, Jerez del Marquesado, Bérchules, Rubite, Torre-Cardela. The latter two belong to the municipality of Nevada.
With a maximum amount of 30,000 euros per municipality, these funds enable municipalities to improve schools or provide sports facilities such as paddle tennis courts, soccer fields, or municipal sports halls, essential for attracting families with children and young people. They can also renovate sociocultural activity centers for elderly residents and work on facilities and air conditioning systems to reduce energy consumption and associated costs, while contributing to sustainability.
Nieto argued that the objective is for rural Andalusian residents to enjoy the same services as those living in a city, and that by doing so, along with the quality of life offered by small municipalities like those in the Sierra de Guadix or Alpujarras, there is an opportunity to correct the current imbalance in the community in terms of population distribution.
Andalusia does not have a widespread depopulation issue like other regions, but more than half of Andalusians live in about thirty major cities and large towns, while in the Sierra and internal areas, like 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 cut across various councils, aimed at changing the traditionally negative perception with affordable housing, schools with very low ratios, and public services without waiting lists.
The councilor praised the ability of mayors in small municipalities to optimize the financial resources they receive, making a 30,000 euro grant seem significant due to their accustomed maximum.
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 its 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 procedures and double checks for municipalities to remove obstacles to municipal development, increasing year by year the municipal cooperation plan, which in 2025 reaches a record figure of 2,375 million, in addition to lending a helping hand in exceptional situations like Dana in November of last year.
Indeed, Baza was one of the affected locations that received aid for repairing damages (55,121.08 euros). Additionally, 14 out of the 29 locations benefiting from Meinfra grants have already been paid over 1.5 million to Granada municipalities that requested an advance.
Nieto also mentioned the program for training digital residents in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants, launched by the Ministry in collaboration with the Granada Provincial Council, with an investment of 1,178,160 euros to train over 5,000 residents in e-government, online banking, websites, or e-commerce.
Just the Ministry of Justice, Local Administration, and Public Service have allocated over four million euros to the municipalities in the province of Granada, not including co-financing for agricultural labor projects (PFA), which provide jobs for agricultural workers to complete tasks when there are no campaigns, allowing for improvements in municipalities, such as the renovations the local council of Baza is carrying out on several streets and a ditch with an investment of half a million euros.
The mayor of Baza thanked the councilor for visiting the local council, where he signed the Honor Book, and for choosing the municipality for Meinfra aid, recognized by counterparts in neighboring towns and other regions of Granada.