Since 2022, the Lanzarote Water Consortium has had a legal report advising the purchase or rental of the land in Órzola where the tank and the entire water supply and distribution system of the northern town are located, and which the Justice ordered to be returned to its legitimate owners. In addition, the Teguise City Council, during the mayoralty of Oswaldo Betancort, and the Tinajo City Council, with Jesús Machín, voted in favor of the acquisition of the farm by the Consortium.
The Court of First Instance number 5 of Arrecife ordered last March the Lanzarote Water Consortium to execute the judicial sentence of 2018 that forced it to return to the family of the socialist councilor Benjamín Perdomo a farm of his property in Órzola, which has been occupying against its owners and without paying for it for 40 years.
The Court established Friday, April 12, at 10:30 a.m., as the deadline for the Consortium to return the land, six years after the sentence that gave the Perdomo family the reason. Last Tuesday, the Water Consortium spoke about it and reported that it had requested the Justice for the suspension of the execution of the sentence until finding "other alternatives that offer the supply solution" in the town.
Despite the Cabildo of Lanzarote reporting the suspension of the execution of the sentence, Benjamín Perdomo assures that "it is not a suspension, only the fulfillment of the terms established by law to resolve the Consortium's request", since the sentence is final and cannot be suspended.
This judicial process has been going on for almost ten years. Since 2015, its seven owners have been judicially claiming the eviction of the property. Already in 2018, a judicial sentence ruled that the Consortium "acted in bad faith" by making use of the farm, carrying out works and extensions, against the warnings of its owners.
The ruling was later appealed by the Consortium and in December 2020 the Provincial Court of Las Palmas decreed the 2018 sentence as final and urged the return of the land. However, it has not been complied with and the public water management company continues to use the space.
A legal report, commissioned by the Water Consortium in 2022, reported the possible options that could be carried out after being condemned to return the land: buy it, rent it or expropriate it (with possible judicial repercussions).
In the document that La Voz has accessed, the lawyer stated that "it must proceed to comply with the sentence." In addition, among several options, he highlighted the possibility of requesting an extension to get more time in its execution, as it is a good of first necessity, in addition to reaching an agreement with the family through the purchase or rental of the 174,884 square meters of land.
Along these lines, the previous Government group considered the possibility of buying the farm for 545,000 euros and not giving up the water service of Órzola, but the agreement was not sealed.
In this way, the legal report understands that the resources already available in the place would be used, such as the tank and the pipe system, and public economic resources and materials would not have to be spent in finding a new space.
The Teguise City Council, during the mayoralty of Oswaldo Betancort, voted in favor of the Water Consortium, formed by the seven councils of the island and the Cabildo of Lanzarote, buying the land of Órzola in which the water tank is located.
Despite this, the current Government Group, presided over by the Popular Party and the Canarian Coalition, has been reluctant to buy the entire land for 545,000 euros. "The tank, built more than 40 years ago, occupies an area of 842 square meters and the pipes through which the water flows only occupy a little more than 720 square meters, so the Cabildo would not need 173,325 square meters of the total area of the farm," said the president of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort, and the Minister of Water, Domingo Cejas.
During a vote held in June 2022 in the Water Consortium, it was resolved to acquire the farm and everything built on it, including the Órzola tank. This vote passed with the votes in favor of the president by delegation, Andrés Stinga, and the representatives of Tías, José Juan Cruz Saavedra; of Teguise, Miguel Ángel Jiménez; San Bartolomé, Victoriano Antonio Rocío; and the mayor of Tinajo, Jesús Machín. In addition, the abstention of Arrecife, with Roberto Herbón; and Yaiza with, Ángel Jesús Domínguez.
If the Consortium opts for the route of forced expropriation, the legal report highlights that, after a condemnatory and final judicial sentence, it could be interpreted by the owners as an attempt to breach the judicial sentence, which could bring judicial repercussions. Another option is that the land could not be used, not even as a public service for water supply, in the time it takes to resolve the expropriation.
In addition, the report highlights that the judicial sentence opened the way for the plaintiffs to initiate the request for compensation against the Consortium for the unauthorized occupation of this space. Now, it will be the Justice who determines whether to execute the sentence this coming April 12, as it had marked, or grant the Water Consortium a new term.
