Tailwind

The Muga Mine is a project of enormous interest to Navarra. As a whole, it represents an investment of foreign capital of 600 million euros in the Autonomous Community, as well as the generation of 800 direct and 160 indirect jobs.
Its implementation, moreover, will represent an extra economic activity of 58 million euros from which, above all, small local suppliers will benefit.And all this without forgetting the enormous repercussion that it will have for the regional coffers in terms of collection of taxes such as personal income tax, VAT, Company Taxes or contributions to Social Security.
The building permit alone will contribute 5 million euros to the municipal coffers of Sangüesa.
These are magnitudes that, by themselves, are already dizzying and give an idea of the importance of a project that will mean -if it is finally developed- one of the greatest accolades that Navarra has been able to receive at an economic and social level in recent years.
As if that were not enough, the production in the enclave will be dedicated mainly to potash, a mineral of which Europe is deficient and depends on imports from Russia and Belarus.
This dependence has meant, only in the last year, an increase in the cost of these purchases of 100%.Potash is used, above all, as a fertilizer for primary crops such as wheat, corn or soybeans.For this reason, the increase in origin of this raw material has had an impact on food, it has been transferred to the rest of the agri-food value chain and contributes to the current burst of inflation that we are suffering right now.With this panorama, it is not an exaggeration to say that the extraction of potash constitutes a strategic asset not only for Navarra but also for the rest of Europe.
Its production underpins the necessary food sovereignty of the continent.
Unfortunately, all this is in the offing now that we are closer than ever to completing a bureaucratic and administrative process that began just 9 years ago.
We assume, understand and comprehend that the mining concession process is hazardous, complex and full of nuances.
The promoters of the Muga Mine started it in 2014 and, from then until now, they have gradually obtained the required permits from the Government of Spain, from the mining departments of Navarra and Aragón, from the regional councils for the Environment and Land Management and even entities such as IGME, IGN or CHE.In each and every one of these procedures, the project has received the corresponding approval from the respective administrations that have evaluated it.In addition, its promoters have made an important effort of transparency and closeness with meetings and informative gatherings with the neighboring communities closest to the exploitation. An area, by the way, that presents a clear danger of depopulation and aging.In this way, after overcoming a long process and facing a disbursement of more than 90 million euros stoically supported by the investors who embarked on this project from the first minute, the Muga Mine is stuck. When he is about to complete the last pending procedure, the building license requested for more than a year is stuck in the Sangüesa City Council pending receipt of new reports from the Government of Navarra, as well as other bureaucratic procedures, and he stands as the most critical barrier to overcome.It is very worrying that this long waiting time in the final phase of the processing, of unknown duration, but apparently long, ends up ruining the investors' bet and could represent the loss of a project of a magnitude such as it has not known the area in terms of employment, investment and tax collection.The public administrations have as their first mission to be at the service of the people of Navarre, promote the common good and guarantee their safety.For this reason, and given a project of such great interest to our Community, is there anything more important than focusing all the efforts of the public bodies involved on speeding up the processing of the processes that remain pending?Let us not forget that the processing times established by the regulations are maximum, and that legal mechanisms are enabled, such as conditional licenses that would allow the start of the works immediately.
From these lines we request and demand both the Sangüesa City Council and the Government of Navarra a final effort to streamline to resolve the pending reports and procedures with the urgency that a project of this magnitude requires for Navarra.
If you think that the professionals of the College of Industrial Engineers can help in any way, you can count on her.
We are still in time to avoid disaster.
Let's not let the Muga Mine project die on the administrative side.
Much is at stake.

*The author is dean of the Official College of Industrial Engineers of Navarra

Regards
Ignacio