The City Council of Balaguer has acknowledged the suspension of its major investment projects for this year. The mayor, Lorena González, explained that the Generalitat reported the cancellation of a contract via email. The local administration still lacks details regarding what triggered this situation. Pending an official meeting, the mayor noted they suspect the awarded company may have failed to meet some of the established deadlines. González stated that the project’s suspension has caused annoyance and that the technical office had requested information on the status of the processing on several occasions without receiving a prior response. The only communication received from the regional administration has been the notification regarding the issue with the contract award.

In this regard, the mayor of Balaguer detailed that the construction of the athletics track and other pending projects in the municipality, including the sports pavilion and the swimming pool, cannot be carried out this year. The temporary loss of these facilities directly affects municipal planning and the sports provisions planned for the residents of the Noguera region. The local council insists on the need to maintain direct contact with the Catalan executive to clarify the exact reasons behind this contractual situation and to find out the timeline for resuming the works.

We, the writers at La 101 de Lleida, note that the lack of fluid institutional communication directly impacts municipal management and the execution of basic infrastructure for citizens. The uncertainty generated around the completion deadlines for pending works in Balaguer highlights coordination issues between local and regional administrations in the province.

The local administration keeps the channel of dialogue open to demand transparency and concrete details from the Generalitat regarding the future of the suspended works in the municipality.

Impact on Urban Planning in the Inpacsa Area

The suspension of the Balaguer tram project and the subsequent termination of the contract announced by the Department of Territory fully condition other urban development projects planned for the Inpacsa area, as warned by the Paeria de Balaguer. Mayor Lorena González detailed that the lack of certainty surrounding this infrastructure disrupts the entire planning mapped out for this sector of the municipality.

Pending a scheduled meeting at the end of the month with the Department of Territory, an encounter the local council hopes will serve to learn the official reasons for the cancellation and determine the next steps, the municipal government has already advanced the stance it will defend before the Generalitat. Specifically, the Paeria de Balaguer will formally demand that the regional department retender the tram project as soon as possible to unblock the situation and allow the reorientation of the affected urban planning in the Inpacsa area.

Lleida Demarcation Records 589 Depopulated or Nearly Uninhabited Hamlets

Parallel to municipal and regional news, the territory of Lleida concentrates a total of 589 depopulated or nearly uninhabited hamlets, accounting for a third of the total within the Catalan-speaking domain, according to the Pobles Abandonats project. Based on data published by La Mañana, this initiative has documented nearly 1,500 cores of this nature in Catalonia, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands, and Andorra.

Within the Lleida demarcation, the presence of these enclaves is particularly significant in several regions. Pallars Jussà tops the list with 130 hamlets in this situation, closely followed by Alt Urgell (108), Pallars Sobirà (92), La Noguera (79), and Segarra (53). The overall national inventory details that 68% of the hamlets remain active despite having fewer than 30 inhabitants, 20% are completely abandoned, and 12% are undergoing recovery processes or have strictly seasonal uses.

To disseminate these results following seven years of research on the poblesabandonats.cat portal, the Institut d’Estudis Ilerdencs (IEI) hosted the presentation of the traveling exhibition titled ‘Pobles Abandonats: claus per a la planificació estratègica del territori’ (Abandoned Villages: Keys to Territorial Strategic Planning). The event was led by the director of the IEI, Andreu Vàzquez; the vice president of the CCEPC and member of the IRMU Board of Trustees, M. Jesús Llavero; and the director of the IRMU and project coordinator, M. Carme Jiménez. The exhibition presents these spaces as authentic open-air laboratories to observe occupation processes, land use, accessibility, resource management, and the dynamics between the rural world and urban centers, with the aim of generating useful knowledge to address current territorial challenges and anti-depopulation strategies ahead of its presentation at an international congress in Barcelona.

A New Inclusive Play Area in the Balàfia Neighborhood

In the capital of Segrià, the City Council of Lleida has initiated preliminary work for the construction of the new children’s park located in Plaça de les Magnòlies, in the Balàfia neighborhood. As published by La Mañana, this space will become the city’s first fully inclusive park adapted for people with disabilities, following a participatory design process with local residents and representatives of the Sectoral Working Table for People with Disabilities.

The project, which has a total projected budget of €287,852, covers an area of 1,030 square meters and will integrate a dozen play elements. These will be divided into dynamic zones and quieter play areas, allowing children to engage in activities involving balance, swinging, sensory stimulation, role-playing, and socialization, thereby fostering autonomy and social inclusion.

X-ray of the Associative Fabric and Volunteering in Lleida

On the other hand, the City Council of Lleida has presented the Study on the Associative Fabric in the City of Lleida: Mapping of Entities, Participants, and Social Impact. This work was prepared by a research team from the University of Lleida (UdL), in collaboration with the academic institution’s Cooperation and Solidarity Unit, and is part of the Commission to promote Lleida’s candidacy for European Capital of Volunteering 2028.

The document aims to outline an X-ray of the local associative reality to guide future public policies on citizen participation and volunteering. During the presentation, the Councilor for Participation and Civil Rights, Roberto Pino, stressed that accurately understanding this reality is an essential prerequisite for continuing to advance toward a more cohesive, supportive, and participatory city, providing the administration with a solid knowledge base for joint work with local organizations.