80% of Lleida merchants who responded to the Pimec survey anticipate a negative or very negative impact. La Mañana publishes this. Across the entire sample, the percentage drops to 65,6%. Nearly fifteen points separate the city’s respondents from the rest, and that distance is the first figure worth keeping in mind. The day leaves three fronts open in Lleida: commerce, which already has its percentage; logistical land, which already has its location; and schools, which already have their first list.

Lleida commerce, with the brakes on

Eight out of ten respondents in Lleida answer with a negative or very negative forecast. When looking at the sample as a whole, the proportion stays at 65,6%. That is a difference of nearly fifteen points and a reading that stands on its own: the pessimism of Lleida’s commerce is broader than that of the rest of those consulted.

Pimec signs the poll. La Mañana publishes it. The 80% does not allow for many nuances: it is the response of four out of five respondents in Lleida. The questionnaire allows for two degrees, negative and very negative, and in the city, it adds them up in that proportion. With the complete sample, the percentage drops to 65,6%, which confirms that the negative forecast also wins outside of Lleida, although with a smaller margin.

The distance between the two percentages is around fifteen points. Both figures come from the same poll, so the comparison is homogeneous: same questionnaires, same criteria, same date. The only thing that changes is the place where the question is asked.

A merchant who answers that they expect a negative or very negative impact is not doing a stylistic exercise. They are saying that they do not see the short term with peace of mind, and that response, repeated four out of five times, weighs more than any nuance.

The survey measures forecasts, not results. And of the two figures published by La Mañana, Lleida’s is the most striking: four out of five respondents, compared to two-thirds of the overall sample.

Logistical land, tied to the Torreblanca-Quatre Pilans industrial estate

The logistical land that the Executive is promoting in Lleida is linked to the Torreblanca-Quatre Pilans industrial estate, according to information published in Lleida. Executive sources maintain that the operation responds to the “real demand” of companies.

Logistical land means, in practice, terrain prepared for warehouses and distribution depots. The operation is therefore tied to a specific location, Torreblanca-Quatre Pilans, and to a specific argument, the “real demand” of companies, according to the cited Executive sources. A point on the map and a reason: the two elements that define the operation.

From there, the matter is read in terms of land and activity: terrain for warehouses, depots, and the movement of goods at a specific point on the map of Lleida. The operation remains tied to Torreblanca-Quatre Pilans, and that is the territorial anchor that accompanies it.

Thirteen Lleida schools enter the first climate control list

Segre publishes that thirteen educational centers in Lleida are among the top one hundred on the climate control plan list. The thirteen are Príncep de Viana, Sant Josep de Calassanç, Mangraners, Torre Queralt, Màrius Torres, Samuel Gili i Gaya, Manuel de Montsuar, Guindàvols, Castell dels Templers, Alcarràs, Francesc Ribalta, Valldeflors, and Miret i Sans. Thirteen out of one hundred: thirteen percent of the first batch, the one that will be executed first.

Behind that first hundred await 2.430 centers, with a schedule stretching until 2031-2032. Segre estimates the plan’s investment at 2.500 million euros and details the state of the facilities that will be worked on: 26,5% of the centers were built before 1960 and 70% are prior to 2007.

More than a quarter of the buildings are over sixty-five years old, and seven out of ten have been standing for at least nineteen. Climate-controlling a center means equipping it with the thermal conditions it needs, and the plan distributes it in installments: one hundred centers first, the remaining 2.430 afterwards.

Distribution in batches forces a look at the calendar and counting the years. The first hundred enter now; the rest, until 2031-2032. For families and teachers, the difference between one center and another is the difference between upcoming construction and a distant date.

The first hundred are the vanguard of the plan, and Lleida places thirteen names in it. The 2.430 centers awaiting their turn are the majority: the bulk of the work is left for the section concluding in 2031-2032.

The thirteen Lleida centers entering the first list have their spot secured. The rest of the list will have to wait, and the wait has a date: 2031-2032.

Details of the Pimec survey: Promenade Lleida and the impact on the self-employed

The survey presented by Pimec Comerç regarding the implementation of the Promenade Lleida commercial complex in the Torre Salses area breaks down in detail the sector’s fears regarding its opening, scheduled for the end of the year 2027. The total sample used by the entity is composed of 157 establishments, of which 72% operate in the capital of Segrià and the remaining 28% come from other towns in the region. Breaking down the responses of all respondents, 30% predict a “very negative” repercussion, 36% estimate it will be “negative”, 28% rule out any type of alteration, and only 6% foresee a horizon of positive or very positive effects.

Manel Llaràs, head of Pimec Comerç Lleida, warned during the public presentation that concern of such proportions cannot be ignored, advocating for making the most of the time remaining until the commercial park opens to design strategies to cushion the blow. Among the direct consequences pointed out by business owners are changes in consumption habits, cited by 69,4% of participants, and a drop in clientele, warned by 59,9%. Likewise, competition in terms of pricing and the diversion of spending routes toward the new space generate concern, a circumstance pointed out very particularly by merchants based outside the capital’s limits.

On the labor front, uncertainty also marks the daily pulse of the self-employed and small business owners. Some 42,9% of those consulted plan to maintain the current size of their workforce, while 35,1% acknowledge deep doubts about its future evolution. Meanwhile, 14,8% foresee the need to cut jobs or directly shut down, and a meager 5,1% trust they will be able to expand their team. Pimec has sought to focus on how this atmosphere of indefinition can immediately paralyze the hiring of new employees, also recalling that four out of ten businesses (40,8%) lack contingency plans to face this scenario. Among the minority that does plan to maneuver, 32,5% trust in enhancing the shopping experience within the store itself.

Mobility, parking, and institutional demands in the face of the new park

Accessibility and the availability of parking have emerged as top-order demands for the commercial fabric. 86% of respondents place this issue as an absolute priority, driven by the need to counter the approximately 2.100 free parking spaces that Promenade Lleida plans to offer. From Manel Llaràs’s perspective, the convenience of parking at the commercial complex can drive consumers to concentrate both their shopping and leisure time there, forcing the city center to increase its attractiveness and competitiveness if it intends to retain its regular shoppers.

As a specific solution to this deficit, Pimec proposes transforming Lleida’s old bus station into a strategic parking lot in the heart of the urban center, initially equipped with about 400 spaces with the option for future expansions. Engineer Josep Maria Servetó detailed that the construction characteristics of the old terminal would make it feasible to set up this parking lot with an affordable financial outlay, arguing that its strategic location would help revitalize the commercial activity of neighboring streets. This initiative is part of a broader package of requests to the public sector, where 87,3% of merchants demand greater institutional backing, 86,6% demand more programming of events and leisure activities, and 81,5% advocate for the launch of institutional campaigns to promote local commerce, alongside 41,4% who see accelerating digitalization as essential.

Support for collective action is massive among the self-employed: 95,5% show a willingness to join joint initiatives and 96% underline the urgency of weaving coordinated synergies between the different merchant associations. In light of this panorama, Pimec’s leadership plans to transfer the conclusions of the report to the Lleida City Council, the Generalitat, and the Provincial Council so they can evaluate the establishment of extraordinary aid lines. In parallel, Borja Solans pointed out the advisability of X-raying the current situation of the sector and establishing a monitoring protocol over the coming years, analyzing metrics on spending flows, the pulse of activity, labor employment, and vacant commercial premises to guide future policies based on contrasted data.

72 million railway investment for the Lleida freight station

In the field of infrastructure and economic development, the Govern of the Generalitat has set an allocation of 72 million euros intended entirely for the construction of the new freight railway terminal linked to the Torreblanca-Quatre Pilans industrial estate. The announcement was made by the Minister of Territory, Housing, and Ecological Transition, Sílvia Paneque, within the framework of a broader strategy endowed with nearly 127 million euros until 2031 to build four new train freight loading and unloading stations in the Catalan territory, located in Lleida, the Ebre regions, Penedès, and Empordà.

According to the information provided by the Catalan Executive, the choice of these locations responds to a real demand expressed by the business fabric of each region, with the strategic purpose of raising the share of freight transported by rail in Catalonia to 10% before the end of the decade, specifically within the 2030 horizon. Of the four projected infrastructures, the one in Lleida will absorb the highest investment volume, with the aforementioned 72 million focused on its material execution. Likewise, government sources highlight that the Lleida project is currently in the most mature state of processing, already having completed informative studies and the corresponding budgetary allocation within the autonomous planning of cargo terminals.

Adverse reactions and territorial debate over the school climate control plan

The inclusion of thirteen educational centers from Lleida in the initial phase of the climate control plan announced by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has been accompanied by considerable political commotion in the neighboring regions. The autonomous program, endowed with 2.500 million euros and focused on adapting the public education network to climate change over a five-year time horizon, contemplates intervening in its first stage on one hundred centers throughout Catalonia before the current legislature ends, leaving the progressive climate control of the remaining 2.430 schools and high schools to be undertaken in a staggered manner until the 2031-2032 academic year.

The thirteen establishments selected in the Lleida region are distributed between the capital —with the Príncep de Viana, Sant Josep de Calassanç, Mangraners, and Torre Queralt schools, along with the Màrius Torres, Samuel Gili i Gaya, Manuel de Montsuar, Guindàvols, and Castell dels Templers high schools— and other towns such as Alcarràs, Solsona through the Francesc Ribalta high school, Tremp with the Valldeflors school, and Organyà with the Miret i Sans school in Alt Urgell. However, the fact that no center belonging to the regions of Pla d’Urgell, Urgell, or Segarra managed to sneak onto this first list has generated discomfort and open criticism among mayors and regional leaders of the area.

From Mollerussa, its mayor, Marc Solsona, described the marginalization of the region in this initial batch as incomprehensible, recalling that the territory registers some of the most extreme thermal measurements. The mayor of Fondarella, Xavi Acosta, spoke in a similar tone, ironizing about the exclusion of Pla d’Urgell by suggesting that temperatures must be higher in Catalonia as a whole than in the so-called Clot del Dimoni. Meanwhile, the city council of Golmés advanced that it is studying taking action on its own given the urgency of climate-controlling its classrooms. In parallel, the president of the Urgell regional council, José Luis Marín, announced that the issue will be raised at the next Council of Mayors convened for the first week of October, with the purpose of pooling the needs of each municipality and evaluating the promotion of a coordinated response that allows securing the backing of other administrations in the face of the thermal rigors suffered by the region.