By ACN
The Governing Council approved this Tuesday the decree of aid to families, economic sectors and infrastructures damaged by the ‘Delta' storm, which establishes a line of aid of 150 euros to families with minimal resources to compensate for the lack of energy supply in their homes for a day or more as a result of the tropical storm.
The beneficiaries of this aid will be those family units receiving basic economic aid (AEBA), non-contributory pension or receiving home assistance, and that a first estimate of the Executive puts at about 17,000 people, especially in Tenerife.
This was pointed out by the spokesperson for the regional Executive, Miguel Becerra, in the press conference after the meeting of the Governing Council. Becerra indicated that potential beneficiaries will have to go to the social services of their town halls, which will be responsible for carrying out the procedures in collaboration with the savings banks. He also specified that mechanisms have been put in place so that these aids are received by those affected during the next week and before December 24.
The approved decree also contemplates aid for rent, repair, rehabilitation and reconstruction of damages in homes that are habitual and permanent residence. These aids, which will be made jointly with the State, will also be processed through the town halls, which have already begun the evaluation of the damages in order to specify and assess the damages in these properties.
In the family sphere, aid will also be granted to consumer and user associations for advising those affected by power outages in the processing of civil and administrative claims for this fact. Likewise, aid of 17,150 euros will be granted to the direct relatives of the deceased in Fuerteventura during the storm.
AGRICULTURAL AND COMMERCIAL SECTOR
In the economic sphere, aid has been established for the agricultural and fishing sector, which will be subject to compensation for loss of production when it has affected more than 20 percent of it and has agricultural insurance. In addition, they will receive aid for repairing the damage caused to the structures of agricultural and fishing farms. In addition, the Ministry of the Environment will also finance the replacement of the sand in the crops of Lanzarote affected by the storm.
Aid is also set for companies in the industrial, commercial and service sectors that have fewer than 49 workers and have suffered direct damage to their infrastructure, machinery or vehicles as a result of the storm. Likewise, aid is foreseen for business associations for advice, joint civil and administrative actions of their associates in the claims for losses and damages caused by the power outage.
116 MILLION DAMAGE TO PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE
In the field of public infrastructure, the regional government will finance 45 percent of the repair in the case of municipal infrastructure, in which the State will cover 50 percent and local administrations the remaining 5 percent. In the case of infrastructure of the island road network, the Executive will finance 25 percent, the same amount as the island councils, while the State will assume the remaining 50 percent, in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree 14/2005 approved by the central Executive for aid after the ‘Delta' storm.
Becerra specified that the amounts of the items will be established based on the evaluation of the damages that is already being carried out, and that in the case of public infrastructures the Executive, in a first estimate, puts at 116 million euros. He also recalled that the budget law of the autonomous community for 2005 establishes the possibility of withholding any type of item to address emergency situations and catastrophes of this type.
In addition, he indicated that an inter-ministerial meeting will be held this Friday, which he hoped the regional government will also attend, and in which it is expected to bring a first estimate of the damages and specify the aid mechanisms for the damage to the affected homes.
CLAIMS TO UNELCO
Regarding the progress of the file opened by the Executive to Unelco-Endesa, Becerra indicated that it is in the instruction phase, in which the technicians are proceeding to the corresponding evaluation and preparation of the reports.
Likewise, he pointed out that the claims against the electricity company must be made by those affected, since the Government cannot assume actions in this area, so these aids have been approved for consumer and business organizations in order to provide adequate legal advice in the processing of these claims.
Questioned about the statements made by the president of Endesa, Manuel Pizarro, in which he assured that the company has been "subsidizing" electricity to the Canary Islands for years, Becerra recalled that this corresponds to the scope of the National Energy Council and the Ministry of Industry, and recalled that the approval of the island and extra-peninsular orders that regulate this compensation to the electricity company for the island surcharge is awaited.