The Kingdom of Spain
I would suggest the Istkalen representitive get out and read literature on good practise in state development. It has been proven many times when streets are pedestrianised consumer spending from passing trade rises on those streets. This is shown in the fact that the most income generating real estate per sq metre is in pedestrianised areas. Its also been proven cyclists spend more on their journeys in local stores enroute since its far easier to stop and lock up a bike for a few minutes than get a parking space. This would thus increase GDP and make the income more evenly spread out. Even if it didn't affect GDP massively in a positive way which it does it would basically pay for itself through eliminating carbon which means less money needed for levees and flood protection and protection against extreme weather in the future .
They also increase social improvement by allowing far safer and easier transport for bike riders which children and elderly and disabled can ride without licenses and having to spend thousands or 10's of thousands of euros a year on a car and its running costs, this is a net benefit for the poorest eliminating cars being the only options which sadly even in the Duchies today there are areas where a car is needed still , this is the type of situation the projects adress. By defining projects by direct income and return on investment like you are proposing many projects of high social benefit or with external benefits beyond a profit motive will essentially be locked out of the fund. This will eliminate the chance for those projects for sustainable development from bidding essentially if there is a high chance of rejection. The fact your nations do not see the benefit of such projects is sad and shows you are pushing your national transport and development agendas on the EU deciding because a project won't work in your country it can't work in other countries. Imagine we decided a project won't work in Spain or Istkalen just because it wouldn't succeed in Duchies your nations would not be happy , I hope you can see with above the solid reasons for the projects to receive funding , they will work in the Duchies as we have tested projects around Brummagem and Goudadam , spending went up as did the cycling share significantly , this shows that clearly this type of project works in a Duchian context.You need to respect the fact solutions in your country and development in your country will not look the same in other countries and look at evidence rather than having a rabid pro-car agenda in the EDA.I would also point out Svarna Surya is not building a high speed rail or toll highway for 5 billion euros they are building then for 10-15 billion Euros each much of which is coming from compensation funds from the United Duchies so your claim they are building a high speed rail system for same price as our projects which fund significantly more cycle super highway mileage a nationwide scheme is false. The Cycle super highway is more efficient at moving traffic the fact is in two lane cycle super highway we can move more bikes than that part funded toll highway scheme. It takes 6 lanes that are wide to move the same amount of traffic as our cycle superhighway scheme.By your argument Duchies and rich nations should not apply for any funding whatsoever since we can always fund the development ourselves yet when it was proposed limiting the amount richer nations can claim you were against it saying all should be able to apply equally and receive equally so which is it do you think UD, DU, Leagio, Yosai and Inquista should pay for all their own projects and never receive EU funding or should it be access for all , you totally lack consistency in your arguments.
James Mizrachi-Roscoe , Councillour for United Duchies