The Spanish government has opened a tender for the basic phase of a flood-control project in the La Saleta ravine. It aims to protect municipalities in Valencia’s l’Horta Sud after the severe flooding of 29 October 2024. Spain’s Council of Ministers authorized the Aldaia-Vía Verde contract on 14 July 2026. The Directorate-General for Water later published the open tender in the Official Journal of the European Union and Spain’s Official State Gazette, setting a public budget of approximately €132.1 million including VAT. The estimated value excluding VAT is €109,186,994.13, and construction is planned to take 42 months.
The tender timetable was later revised. An error correction issued on 11 September extended the bid-submission deadline to 29 September 2026 and set 1 October for the opening of administrative and technical documents. The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge scheduled the opening of financial offers for 29 October at 10:30. The contract so remained in procurement, with construction still projected to possibly begin before the end of 2026. Economic and other automatically assessable criteria account for 52% of the evaluation, while the technical proposal makes up 48%.
The intervention is designed to address longstanding flood risks in Aldaia, Alaquàs, Xirivella and Quart de Poblet, as well as parts of València. It will create a new hydraulic route to divert floodwaters from the ravine toward the new Turia channel. The basic section under tender runs from Aldaia toward the greenway and forms part of a wider investment reported at more than €150 million. The principal contract attracted 18 bidders, including 16 business alliances and two individual companies. Acciona, Torrescámara, Sacyr and Dragados were among the companies reported to have participated.
Central to the plan is an underground conduit of about four kilometres beneath northern Aldaia, designed to carry high-volume flows away from exposed urban areas. One technically challenging section will pass beneath the València-Utiel railway using a trenchless method intended to avoid disrupting train services. From there, floodwaters will continue along a nearly three-kilometre open greenway integrated into the agricultural field, toward the new Turia channel. Separate reporting describes a subterranean section of around 3.5 kilometres beneath Aldaia and Alaquàs, a canalized greenway route toward Xirivella, and work to condition the ravine between the A-3 and CV-33.
The wider La Saleta solution is divided into two projects. Alongside the basic section now in procurement, a second phase would connect the system to the new Turia channel beneath the V-30 highway. This segment, with a budget of around €14 million, has received technical approval and is expected to be tendered separately. Crossing the V-30 requires coordination with the road division of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility.
Decades of urban expansion and infrastructure development have left the La Saleta ravine without an effective outlet to the Turia, its natural drainage route. The ravine crosses Aldaia’s urban area, where it loses a defined channel and adds to the flood hazard. The planned diversion is intended to give water a controlled route instead of letting flows concentrate along the existing urban course. The Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar has also opened public participation for 10 flood-risk and ability to recover projects across the Poyo, Magro and Pozalet-Saleta basins, among the areas severely affected by the 2024 DANA. An information session in Aldaia, scheduled for 5 November 2026, will address the Pozalet-Saleta basin and the status of La Saleta, described as pending award, along with other planned protections.
Following the 2024 disaster, new hydraulic studies by the Center for Studies and Experimentation of Public Works (CEDEX) informed a review of the project. The basic conduit’s planned capacity rose from 80 to 100 cubic metres per second, with a further 30 cubic metres per second attributed to the urban section. The first component will be a diversion structure near the CV-410 and the Aldaia/Bonaire access points. It will distribute flows to the CV-410 ditch and the expanded Aldaia urban channel, as well as the underground conduit feeding the greenway. Other reporting puts the planned system’s capacity at approximately 100 cubic metres per second and describes a narrower project component costing around €90 million. That figure is distinct from the €132.1 million tender and the wider investment exceeding €150 million.
Separate from the major hydraulic works, Aldaia had installed flood barriers by September 2025 to protect streets adjoining the La Saleta ravine. A later state funding decision covered 62 municipalities in areas classified as having impressive potential flood risk. Reported allocations included €3.2 million for Aldaia and Catarroja, €2.8 million for Paiporta and Alfafar, €3.75 million for Algemesí and €1.8 million for València.
Government DANA commissioner Zulima Pérez described the La Saleta works as a basic, long-demanded project for Aldaia, intended to improve safety for communities exposed to flooding in the Valencia metropolitan area. The broader plan combines the buried conduit with a greenway running toward the new Turia channel. Its delivery forms part of a wider response to flood risk in the region, alongside public planning for projects across the Poyo, Magro and Pozalet-Saleta basins.
Flood management and infrastructure upgrades have drawn growing attention from Spanish authorities after extreme weather events. The scale of La Saleta reflects broader investment in climate ability to recover. Other regions have faced similar challenges, including the emergency response to natural disasters in Naples, and the need for strong civil protection measures across southern Europe.
Valencia’s approach pairs hydraulic engineering with field integration, seeking to balance urban safety and environmental preservation. The works are intended to reduce future flood exposure for residents across several l’Horta Sud municipalities. Delivery will depend on the procurement outcome and the separate steps needed to connect the system to the new Turia channel.
