The Island Water Council has been practically without making investments for two years, despite the fact that in both financial years, works worth more than 800,000 euros had been budgeted. In the case of 2016, they only spent 24,625 euros of the 822,700 that had been budgeted for investments, which represents 2.99%. Of the rest, 150,000 euros were finally diverted to the item of "expenses on current goods and services" and 648,075 euros remained as "credit balance" at the end of the year.
As for 2017, an almost identical figure was allocated to investments in the budget, specifically 8212,700 euros, but the year closed with a balance of 792,934 euros in this chapter. This means that less than 2.4 percent of what was budgeted was spent, not reaching 20,000 euros, according to the liquidation of both budgets, approved this Tuesday by the Board of the Council, chaired by Pedro San Ginés.
In both financial years, the figure of "recognized obligations" is added to another of "committed expenses", of 28,720 euros in the case of the closing of 2017 and 41,610 euros in that of 2016, which continue to leave minimal percentages of execution of the planned investments. In fact, the interventions that were budgeted for those two years are practically identical, repeating in 2017 the same works that had not been executed the previous year, such as the "channeling of the Órzola ravine", "channeling of ravines", "reconstruction of channels and ravines", "treatment infrastructures for water and sewage sludge" and "protection systems in hydraulic infrastructures" and "beautification of channels and ravines".
"Carbon copy" budgets that are "not executed"
"We have a Cabildo that does not execute its budgets due to its inefficiency in terms of management," denounced the PSOE spokesperson in the Cabildo, José Juan Cruz, on Radio Lanzarote - Onda Cero, after the meeting of the General Board and the Governing Board of the Island Water Council held this Tuesday. The approval of the liquidation of the budgets of the two previous financial years was brought to that session, and Cruz denounces that both are "carbon copies".
Regarding the total execution, the socialist spokesperson states that it was 36% in 2016 and 31% in 2017, with practically all of the expenditure corresponding to the payment of personnel. "The Cabildo moves in that line," criticized Cruz, who also questioned the accounts approved in that same session for the current year and emphasizes that "little" can be highlighted from "a continuous budget that is not executed."
The 2018 budgets foresee less investment
The amount of the budget approved for this 2018 is identical to that of the two previous financial years, 1,416,800 euros, although in this financial year the amount foreseen for investment decreases, standing at 723,985 euros, according to the Cabildo. Within this chapter, the institution has highlighted the "expansion of the water impulsion station of La Vegueta and renovation of the supply network of La Vegueta", for which they have planned an investment of 492,485 euros.
Also, in the accounts already approved in the second quarter, they have budgeted for this year the 'Channeling, defense and lamination in a section of the Temisa ravine', with an investment of 137,183 euros, as well as the "conditioning of channels of public hydraulic domain", with 30,573 euros; the repair or adequate closure of a well in the Papagayo area, for 7,742 euros; and an item of 50,000 euros in non-earmarked subsidies, "to respond to the demand made in previous sessions of the Board by agricultural, livestock or irrigation organizations".
In addition, San Ginés has announced that he will present "a report with a detailed study of the status and situation of the projects that are going to be carried out" with the surplus funds that the Council has. And it is that to the investments not executed in 2016 and 2017, worth about 1.6 million euros, would also be added those of previous years. In total, according to the president himself, the Island Water Council currently has a "surplus" that amounts to 4.8 million euros, of money that has not been invested.
