Once the expiration is declared of the contractual resolution procedure for the Lanzarote Senior Residence project, having exceeded the established processing period, the Cabildo's Government group has adopted this Monday the agreement to initiate the resolution of the works concession contract for the drafting of the project, financing and execution of the construction of a social health center for the elderly and care for dependent people in cohabitation units of a day center in Tahíche.
“After its resolution, the priority of the Cabildo of Lanzarote will be to put out to public tender a new contract for the construction of the Tahíche Senior Residence before the end of this year”, assured President Oswaldo Betancort, guaranteeing its financing for 2024. “Which is good news for all purposes, also taking into account that both the basic and the execution project belong to the Cabildo and, therefore, the deadlines can be shortened and we will not continue to delay a work so necessary for our elders”, the president pointed out.
In the Governing Council held on the morning of this Monday, the government approved the expiration of the previous contract with the UTE Residenza Sanitaria, once the aforementioned entity has exhausted the deadlines established by the Public Administration Contracts Law without the possibility of continuing with the works.
According to the Public Sector Contracts Law, when the contractor, for reasons attributable to it, has partially breached the execution of the services defined in the contract, the Administration may choose, taking into account the circumstances of the case, for its resolution or for the imposition of penalties that, for such cases, are determined in the specifications of particular administrative clauses or in the descriptive document.
In this regard, the contractor must compensate the entity for the damages caused in excess of the amount of the seized guarantee, which will be determined by the contracting body. If, at the time of the final resolution proposal, the damages could not be quantified, this will contemplate the initiation of a claim file for damages arising from the contractual resolution in an adversarial procedure.
These contractual clauses will not be incompatible with the launch of a new tender that will be activated as soon as possible. “Our highest priority will be to initiate the corresponding administrative contracting procedure since the realization of the contractual object is still necessary”, explains the head of Social Welfare, Marci Acuña, who deeply regrets that “the previous Government group of the Cabildo spent four years with their arms crossed in the face of the breach of contract and was not able to complete the termination file”.
Precisely, the previous executive of the Cabildo approved at the beginning of November 2022 the file for the resolution of the contract, but never completed it, which has delayed the entire process by more than a year. “The positive part is that, even if the previous awarding company goes to the Administrative Litigation, the new public tender is not paralyzed to make an urgent social demand on the island a reality”, the councilor pointed out.
“The financing and the project are not in danger”
Oswaldo Betancort announced a few days ago, after the visit of the Minister of Social Welfare of the Government of the Canary Islands, that the Island Corporation "had recovered ten million euros" of financial sheet for the residence, after the Cabildo had to "return six million for not having started the works in the previous term".
“Therefore, neither the project of the future Senior Residence nor the financing to materialize it are in danger”, Betancort guaranteed, once the commitment with the regional Executive was sealed that the budget of the Canary Islands will include an initial item of "ten million euros for 2024", with the possibility of expanding it in the 2025 financial year.
It should be remembered that the first stone of the social health center, which had a budget of 19 million euros and planned to house 180 places for the elderly, was laid in May 2021 with the presence of the then President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, and the President of the Cabildo, Dolores Corujo.
“We have lost precious time, but now we cannot look back or denounce the apathy or political inaction of those who are no longer there”, added Betancort. “It is up to us to recover the lost time and work so that this specification comes out as soon as possible with all the guarantees”, he concluded, pointing out that while this infrastructure is not a reality, "80 new places in the network of health infrastructures" existing in Lanzarote will be expanded, which will have "nine million euros" of financing from the Canary Islands.
