The Nationalist Group (CC-PNC) in the Cabildo of Lanzarote has presented a package of 16 amendments to the Cabildo's budget project for the year 2023 which, if approved in its entirety, "would mean an improvement of 5,400,000 euros in the accounts of the island institution."
Among the amendments presented by CC-PNC, the nationalists request the incorporation of 800,000 euros for an Action Plan for the island of La Graciosa and recall that the eighth island disappeared in the Cabildo's budgets for 2021.
“Due to its specific characteristics and its uniqueness, with qualified natural values, La Graciosa constitutes a territorial area of particular ecological sensitivity, but this government continues to ignore it and forgets that the development of actions aimed at preserving its natural resources is a priority,” emphasizes the spokesperson for CC-PNC, Samuel Martín.
The Arrecife Capital of the Biosphere Reserve Project also deserves special attention for the nationalists, for which they are requesting 150,000 euros, of which Martín recalls that its creation was born, precisely, under the technical direction of the Biosphere Reserve Office.
“A project was created to place Arrecife at the level it deserves as the capital of the island and the third most important city in the Canary Islands; a project that this Cabildo, together with the Government of the Canary Islands, has left in oblivion, abandoning along the way the recovery of salt flats, mills, bio-corners, urban parks, cultural spaces such as the RED, etc,” recalls the CC-PNC councilor.
The nationalists state that they are adding in their amendments items "as important as those aimed at entrepreneurship and job creation or the primary sector."
Thus, they include 300,000 euros for the promotion of entrepreneurship and another 300,000 for a Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment Plan, explaining that the proposal of the Strategic Plan for Subsidies of the Island Council for 2023 includes the subsidy for entrepreneurship and youth employment, but this is not provided with an economic item but rather it is expected to incorporate the remainder, jeopardizing that this can occur in a timely manner. “It was an amendment accepted to the budget of the year 2021 and presented by our group since we believed that it was essential that this institution launch said plan at the time and we continue to believe it. The island is currently at 9,327 unemployed, according to data published by the Canarian Employment Observatory (OBECAN).”
The primary sector is still trying to take off from all the economic problems generated by the pandemic. Everything that is done is still insufficient and CC-PNC believes that much more can be done than what the Island Government proposes.
“An aid of 250,000 euros for the maintenance of the camel as an autochthonous breed or 100,000 euros for the creation of a seed bank of local varieties to supply our farmers, would partially alleviate the sector,” adds the nationalist spokesperson.
"The same occurs with very necessary projects and works at the municipal level, which seem to have remained in the Cabildo," they highlight. Thus, CC-PNC includes in its amendments 100,000 euros for the creation of a boulevard area with trees on León y Castillo street in Arrecife, which connects the new shopping center and the center of the capital, to help promote small businesses.
Other municipal projects that are incorporated into the amendments are the sanitation of Tahíche (1,000,000 euros), the recovery of the Salinas de Órzola (600,000 euros), the conditioning of the Isleta de La Santa (250,000 euros), the sanitation of Uga (700,000 euros), the mountain area project of San Bartolomé (150,000 euros) or the realization of a study for an underground parking project in the El Varadero area in Puerto del Carmen (100,000 euros).
The amendments of CC-PNC to the draft budget of the Cabildo of Lanzarote for the year 2023 also include 500,000 euros for the future Historical Archive of Teguise, which has had a project since February 2020 and "is still waiting to obtain financing to continue guarding and cherishing its very important historical heritage," they add.
They also point out that "the government of the Cabildo has forgotten about Citizen Participation and attention to citizens, adding a negative of these economic items with respect to the last budget approved in 2021 of -75.55%, with an economic loss of 227,473.49 euros". The nationalists request the incorporation of 50,000 euros.
Finally, the last of the amendments presented is aimed at a subsidy of 50,000 euros to the Society for the Study of Cetaceans in the Canary Archipelago (SECAC)
“If they take into account our contributions, the final document will improve a lot since very important aspects have been left out. If they do, then they can boast of participatory budgets, because until now all they have done has been to publicize the project to the media before the groups that are part of the Corporation. I don't think something like that can be very participatory,” asserts Martín.
