Microsoft plans a center in Valencia 15 years after the Torrevieja health hub bluff.

Valencian politicians are once again acting as spokespersons for the technology giant Microsoft . The mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá , has announced that the multinational will establish a leading center for the development and testing of technology applied to sports, entertainment, and health .

The PP mayor took advantage of a breakfast briefing organized by Forum Europe and Mediterranean Tribune to unveil this project, although she did not provide further details on the investment or use of the software giant's plans. Catalá simply noted that this center will be located in La Harinera, a municipally owned building renovated and managed by the City Council near the Valencia Marina, which it uses as a business incubator.

Catalá also thanked Valencian President Carlos Mazón for his efforts to make this possible. "Without the General Directorate of Strategic Projects, which reports directly to you, Microsoft's arrival would not have been possible."

This isn't the first time a large Microsoft center has been announced in the Valencian Community. In 2010, the then-President of Valencia, Paco Camps, unveiled, after a meeting with Bill Gates himself in the United States, the technology corporation's project to create a major center for the healthcare sector in Torrevieja with Telefónica and Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo (CAM) as partners. The then-PP leader's project disappeared from view, just like CAM itself, and never materialized.

In a triumphant speech reviewing the two-year legislative session despite the impact of the DANA disaster on Valencia's districts, he emphasized that the processing time for licenses has been reduced from an average of 1,500 days to just over 200 days . He also stated that 42 companies have established themselves in the city, creating 2,500 jobs with an investment of 260 million over these two years, among which he highlighted the case of IBM .

"We have unlocked investments totaling 950 million euros that will generate 16,000 direct and indirect jobs in this city. These projects have been waiting for years for an administrative response that never came," he said.

Regarding housing , despite the dramatic situation regarding rental and purchase prices , he blamed the previous city council and stated that urban development plans for more than 7,000 homes are underway and that the council has launched nearly a thousand social housing units.

In front of Mazón himself , Catalá distanced herself from being the "designated replacement" to replace the PP leader after being continually in the spotlight due to the controversy surrounding the management of the DANA (National Urban Development Plan). "There is no chance of me ceasing to be mayor," asserted the former mayor of Torrent and regional minister, using the lyrics of Serrat's song "The Woman I Love" during her speech, replacing the woman with Valencia.