The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, has warned the mayors of Teguise and Arrecife about the "significant debts they still have with Insular de Aguas de Lanzarote S.L. (INALSA)", with unpaid interest "whose amount exceeds one million euros between both institutions."
The situation of this debt was addressed in the last meeting of the Board of Directors of Inalsa held last week, to approve the provisional profit and loss account of the public company for 2023. That account, according to the Corporation, shows "positive calculations, where in the income chapter, in addition to the priority energy production, a prominent place is occupied by the outstanding collection of 651,226 euros that the City Council of Teguise maintains, and the other 385,927 euros that the Arrecife consistory owes; these debts must be increased until the date of payment and were generated as interest on the main debts for non-payment of water when Inalsa was the operator of the integral water cycle."
María Dolores Corujo has recalled that the courts already issued two judicial sentences in favor of the entity. “Despite the management efforts we are making from the current Government group to continue generating wealth around public companies, we are faced with obstacles such as the delinquency exhibited here by the corporations of Teguise and Arrecife, an issue that we fought and defended successfully in the courts,” she warned.
Canon and sentences
The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote has invited public officials "to follow the example of other local corporations and maintain their debt with Insular de Aguas de Lanzarote S.L. at zero, a company that precisely plans to deliver in 2023 the fee destined for the municipalities of the Island, according to the agreements derived from the 2007 Wind Power Contest, a payment that would be 1,900,000 euros that next year."
From the Corporation, they recall that the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) ruled in favor of the claim of debts to the municipalities of Teguise and Arrecife in sentences issued in 2021 and 2019, respectively, sentencing the former to the mandatory payment of 1,478,012.25 euros accumulated in several years, and also the latter to face the billing issued as a fee for the provision of the service of the integral water cycle and pay the 796,377 euros owed then.
Both institutions were also condemned to pay the default interest established in Law 3/2004, of December 29, which establishes measures to combat late payment in commercial operations, modified by Law 15/2010, with express imposition of costs on the administrations. Currently, that interest is what Inalsa continues to claim from the two city councils.
