The councilor responsible for the management of Gandia's municipal parking facilities, Salvador Gregori, reaffirmed today the local government's commitment to proximity commerce and guaranteed that parking discounts linked to purchases in the city's establishments will continue to be valid.
Gregori sought to clarify doubts raised in recent days about the future management model of municipal parking and assured that there is a “firm commitment” to maintain the so-called 'ticket comercio', which allows customers to obtain up to four hours of free parking when making purchases at participating establishments.
“The maintenance of discounts for commerce is guaranteed and will be reflected in the terms of the future concession,” stated the councilor, who lamented that the Popular Party is disseminating information that, he indicated, does not correspond to the reality of the file.
The municipal official recalled that the system currently benefits thousands of users and businesses in the city. During 2025 alone, more than 35,000 purchase transactions were registered associated with this initiative, allowing for the distribution of over 84,000 hours of subsidized parking. Furthermore, he highlighted that the City Council will continue to cover part of the cost of these aids, so that participating establishments bear only a fraction of the total amount of discounts applied to their customers.
Gregori also emphasized the support provided by the local Executive to the commercial sector in recent years through programs such as the Consumption Vouchers and School Cultural Vouchers. As he explained, since 2021, more than four million euros have been allocated to initiatives for commercial revitalization and the promotion of local consumption.
During his address, the councilor responded to criticisms made by representatives of the Popular Party regarding the future concession of municipal parking. Gregori argued that the outsourcing of parking management is not new compared to proposals previously defended by the same PP.
To support this assertion, he presented municipal documentation from 2013 which, as he explained, already contemplated the possibility of grouping different services related to urban mobility under a single concession, including underground parking, blue zone, municipal tow truck, and surface parking.
The councilor assured that the current project is more limited, affecting only three municipal parking lots, and denied that it could be described as a “monopoly” or a "windfall", as the opposition has denounced.
Likewise, he defended that current parking rates are below the accumulated inflation over the last decade and stated that the price increase denounced by the Popular Party does not exist.
Gregori recalled that the current municipal government had to face a complex economic situation derived from the management of parking facilities in previous periods. As he detailed, the City Council assumed economic obligations linked to various financial rebalances and contractual resolutions that, in total, exceeded 27 million euros.
In this context, he explained that the new concession will allow progress in the definitive resolution of the situation of the República Argentina parking lot and, at the same time, generate resources to complete pending urban development projects in different sectors of the city.
Finally, the councilor insisted that the local government's priority is to ensure the viability of the service, maintain support for proximity commerce, and continue promoting measures that favor the economic activity of Gandia.
