The Costa Group will invest 469 million euros in the creation of the Ebro Valley Agri-food Logistics Center in the town of Villamayor, Zaragoza.
The President of the Government of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, and the CEO of Grupo Costa, Jorge Costa, announced this morning the Ebro Valley Agri-food Logistics Center project, known as Project CLAVE, which will be located in Villamayor de Gállego and will have "an investment of 469 million euros to generate 3.200 direct and 2.000 indirect jobs."
From the Hall of Columns of the Pignatelli Building, headquarters of the regional government, and after the meeting of the Governing Council, Azcón reported the approval of the Declaration of Investment of Regional and General Interest (DIGA) of the CLAVE Project, a mechanism that allows for speeding up the execution deadlines.
The president of Aragon has indicated that the CLAVE Project aims to create “a major agri-food platform that will bring together agro-industrial, biopharmaceutical, and logistics activities.” “It will involve an investment of 469 million euros and will create 3.200 direct and permanent jobs, plus another 300 during the construction phase and around 2.000 indirect jobs,” he explained.
"Without a doubt, the CLAVE Project will be crucial in positioning Aragon as a leading region in innovation and transformation in a sector as important to the Spanish economy, and particularly to the Aragonese economy, as the agri-food sector," said the head of the regional government, who emphasized that "Aragon's position as an innovative community will be strengthened thanks to the implementation of a Biotechnology Campus focused on the research and development of new products derived from agri-food production."
Similarly, Azcón emphasized that "the fact that the Costa Group is behind this major project is more than enough guarantee that it is a solid business initiative that will achieve its objectives." He continued, "The Government of Aragon can only express its gratitude to the Costa Group for reinforcing its commitment to our Autonomous Community with this initiative that will create thousands of jobs."
This agro-industrial complex will be located in the town of Villamayor de Gállego in Zaragoza, on a 155-hectare plot of land in a strategic area between the Malpica industrial park, the A-2 highway and the urban center of Villamayor de Gállego, very close to road transport hubs, the railway network and the Zaragoza airport, one of the infrastructures with the highest cargo traffic in the country.
The future Ebro Valley Agri-food Logistics Center (CLAVE) will have a total investment of 469 million euros, of which 407 million will be allocated to boosting the industrial complex, while the remaining 62 million will be invested in the urbanization of the complex, in the south of the municipality of Villamayor de Gállego.
Among its main objectives, the CLAVE project seeks to have a positive impact on the agri-food, biopharmaceutical and logistics sectors of Aragon and to make both the infrastructure and the Community a national biotechnological benchmark, also serving as a pole of attraction for new business initiatives and talent in the area.
The CEO of Grupo Costa, Jorge Costa, expressed his gratitude to the Government of Aragon “for its complete willingness to support key initiatives for job creation, such as CLAVE, one of the most significant projects in Aragon in recent years in terms of both investment and employment generated. Moreover, in this case, the capital is 100% Aragonese. I also extend my thanks to the entire Grupo Costa team, without whose effort and hard work something like this would not be possible.”
The project, which will be implemented in two phases - the first with a term of five years from the approval of the Plan of General Interest of Aragon (PIGA) and the second, of another five - includes facilities for activity based on products of poultry and pork origin, the corporate headquarters of the Costa Group, a logistics center of 20.000 m2 and a Biotechnology Campus, among other infrastructures.
This last component, one of the initiative's main pillars, will be launched in the project's first phase and will constitute a center that aspires to become a national benchmark in the implementation of circular economy processes. Furthermore, it will include research and development centers through collaborations with universities and research institutes, and aims to create patents and projects that introduce qualitative and quantitative improvements in both the agri-food and biopharmaceutical sectors.
The Campus will be based on the principles of the circular economy, based in this case on the use of by-products generated in the meat production process to generate new products of high added value, in line with other initiatives of the Group, such as Glicopepton Biotech, a company established in Fraga for the production of compounds of high technological value, such as crude heparins, from pork by-products.
