Lanzarote's builders denounce that administrations sink prices and turn to Tragsa

The construction employers' association in the **province of Las Palmas** has denounced this Friday that **the island administrations are sinking the prices of public works**, which causes more and more **tenders** to be **unawarded** and facilitates their **commissioning** to the public company **Tragsa**. In a statement, the Association of Construction and Promoter Employers of Las Palmas (AECP) maintains that, between 2021 and October 2026, **854 public works tenders remained unawarded in the Canary Islands**, with a total budget of **490 million euros**. This employers' association once again attacks **Tragsa**, a public company it has long accused of engaging in **unfair competition** with private companies in the construction sector. This time, it denounces that **Tragsa has received 943 public works contracts in the Canary Islands in the last six years, valued at more than 1,000 million** euros, through procedures that it considers to "skirt legality, evade the Public Sector Contracts Law" and, at times, end up "doubling costs". "This **dubious and suspicious behavior** by public administrations generates unfair competition with respect to companies operating in the market, weakening their position, making them less competitive, and preventing their growth and specialization," assures the AECP. The construction companies complain that in **2024** "public administrations have more than tripled their direct commissions, without going through tenders, to **Tragsa**, in terms of **budgets** (387 million euros, +237%) and doubled in terms of **works** (224, +91.5%)". And all of this has led, from their point of view, to an increasing number of tenders that end up unawarded or to which only one bidder responds, "which also constitutes a **threat to the execution of European funds** and the provision of infrastructure and equipment." "The fundamental reason for this phenomenon is the **'dumping' effect** generated by public administrations tendering works at prices below market prices, which they **later commission to Tragsa, doubling their cost**, and which ignore collective agreements or minimize risk prevention in works, or evade waste management, or overlook material price differences, generally refusing price revisions," points out the employers' association of Las Palmas.