The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote and also of the Lanzarote Water Consortium, Oswaldo Betancort, has denied in a press release issued late last Sunday that he has hidden information in the procedure for terminating the contract with Canal Gestión and has refuted the accusations made by the PSOE. Betancort has thus defended that the assignment of the concession to another operator is expressly provided for in the administrative procedure and does not, in any case, halt the judicial route for claiming amounts.
Betancort recalled that the Consortium's priority is to guarantee the continuity of an essential service such as the integrated water cycle, something that the law allows through the assignment of the contract while the economic responsibilities arising from the management of the current concessionaire are settled in court"The PSOE is deliberately trying to confuse citizens," Betancort stated, explaining that the operational management of the service and the economic settlement of the contract are distinct matters. "That the service continues with another operator does not mean renouncing the claim for what is owed to the Consortium and, therefore, to Lanzarote," he affirmedIn this regard, he has insisted that it is legally false to maintain that the assignment of the contract must await the closure of all litigation. "If we followed that irresponsible approach, we would put the island's water supply at risk for years," he warned"It was the PSOE that gifted 1.5 million to Canal at the expense of tariffs that were never processed," adds Oswaldo Betancort. "In 2024, the tariff update file for the years of the socialist administration, 2019 to 2023, had to be processed because they did not do it. That's where the procedures for not having done their job in a timely manner come from. They gave him 1.5 million and prepared another 3 million that were never paid when they entered government. Furthermore, the terms of the assignment are known to the members of the assembly and were communicated to the members from last September 30 for the October 6 Assembly. This press release from Loli Corujo only demonstrates the lack of communication between the socialist mayors and their general secretary, and is the result of the time she spends in Madrid and forgets about Lanzarote's problems," Betancort adds.
Report estimates 21 million in underinvestment
The Consortium's president also recalled that the institution has already issued a technical report stating that Canal Gestión has failed to invest approximately 21 million euros committed in the concession. "That figure is objective, it is documented, and it is part of the basis for the claims that the Consortium is defending," he stressed.
"To talk now about defending public accounts is cynical, to say the least, when there is a report that proves a millionaire investment breach by the current concessionaire," he added
Opposition accuses government of generating "political alarmism"
Betancort has flatly rejected accusations of opacity and has assured that all relevant information has been made available to the Consortium's bodies. "What there is is a political strategy based on generating alarm and noise, not on providing solutions," he stated"The Consortium acts with technical reports, legal backing, and a single objective: to defend the general interest, regain control of the service, and demand accountability from those who have not complied," concluded the president of the Lanzarote Water Consortium.
