The Administrative Law Court number 3 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has shelved the judicial procedure after considering that the final judgment ordering the review of the 2013 contract award for the integral water cycle in Lanzarote has been executed, according to the Efe Agency.
The head of the Court, Magistrate Olimpia del Rosario Palenzuela, considers that from the documentation provided by the defendant Administration and that contained in the case file, "it is concluded that the defendant Administration has proceeded to execute the sentence issued," states an order to which EFE has had access
That ruling ordered the island's water consortium to open a procedure to review the awarding of the contract to determine whether or not it should be annulled.
The High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands considered in its ruling that between the initial tender and the negotiated procedure by which the contract was finally awarded, there was a "substantial modification" of the conditions of the award procedure.
A 106 million euro procedure
After the bankruptcy of Inalsa, the Lanzarote Water Consortium decided to put the integral water cycle out to tender, but it was unsuccessful. Following that tender, it resolved to initiate a negotiated procedure that ended up being awarded to Canal Gestión for 106 million euros, almost triple the initial amount.
The ruling, now executed, derives from a procedure initiated by the company Club Lanzarote, which filed suit after the former president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, ordered the intervention of the desalination plant that the company has in Montaña Roja (Playa Blanca).
The first ruling is from October 2016 and was unfavorable to the company, but the TSJC revoked it in 2017 and the Supreme Court rejected the appeals.
Subsequently, Club Lanzarote and the Cabildo reached an agreement on the desalination plant, and the company waived its right to request the execution of the judgment.
It was the company Eicoh Explotaciones, a supplier of Canal Gestión Lanzarote in a temporary joint venture with Canaragua, that requested the forced execution of the judgment in early 2025.
On the other hand, the Lanzarote Island Water Consortium initiated a process in April to terminate the contract with Canal Gestión due to serious breaches. Last October, Canal Gestión Lanzarote requested the suspension of the contract termination procedure for three months to negotiate its exit and the transfer to other companies in the sector.
