Alex Salebe
Why is there such an outcry when business organizations and political forces request the port authority of Lanzarote?
Firstly, the current legislation regarding ports must be taken into account. The law of 2003 establishes that all ports, which are of general interest to the State, must have economic and financial autonomy. This means that the port must have sufficient income to cover its expenses. This refers to ordinary expenses plus the amortization expenses of the investments that are generated. There is no such thing as the State Budgets paying for an investment or the Autonomous Community giving money. If the port generates income, then it has enough to cover the expenses.
Does the port of Arrecife generate enough resources to cover its expenses?
No, and let me explain. The importers themselves from the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura want the fees charged in the ports to be as low as possible to reduce costs. Right now, the fees are 80% subsidized. There is a contradiction because on the one hand, independence is requested, and on the other hand, fewer fees are requested. So, if you have fewer fees, you have less income. In fact, the port of Arrecife, and I don't know if jointly with that of Puerto del Rosario, has stopped producing income for the Port Authority of Las Palmas worth 3 million euros in the last three years. Less is collected because an 80% bonus is applied. The fees for ships docking in Arrecife are 80% cheaper than three years ago. What is contradictory is asking not to pay fees and at the same time generate income. I don't know if the City Council had that data when it agreed to request port autonomy, but I explained it in a subcommittee in the Parliament of the Canary Islands and also in a Board of Directors. My position is neither for nor against. I limit myself to carrying out and saying the relevant reports so that people can decide. Of the set of the three ports of the three islands, the Port Authority can make the investments and expenses that allow the generation of income that is produced among the three. Knowing that the fees of Puerto del Rosario and Arrecife are subsidized, there would be no choice, in a situation of independence, but to multiply those fees by three or four.
What you are saying is that in practice the Port of Las Palmas subsidizes the ports of Arrecife and Puerto del Rosario.
That's the reality. Both ports are in deficit, but because the fees are subsidized.
When is independence viable?
The decision depends on whether the port can generate enough income to cover its expenses. If I have 100 in expenses and I am collecting 20, by collecting 80 more, I would make it viable. But that means that I have to make transportation more expensive by charging higher fees. The money does not come from Madrid if it is not generated with its own resources.
It does not seem logical that the installation of a Border Inspection Post in the port of Arrecife further increases the shopping basket.
There is an agreement with the Cabildo of Lanzarote for them to present us with a project to install the PIF in the port of Arrecife. We process it and it will follow the procedure for the concession of the PIF. I don't want to deceive anyone. I want all the authorities that have requested that PIF, and that we are processing, to know that the PIF will be in deficit. The company that manages the PIF will try to cover the costs of 100 and will say that what it can contribute, for the fees plus the expenses of an importer in Las Palmas, reaches 80. Therefore, it will be necessary to raise 20.
Would that increase derive to the consumer?
Someone will have to pay it. I don't know. That implies a position on my part, but I am obliged to let people know. When they know, let them tell me: take the installation project and continue the process. As soon as I have the installation project, I send it to the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Public Administrations and the PIF is built. But don't tell me, as is happening in some port in Spain, that they want to remove it the following month. I am following the process of the PIF of Arrecife and Puerto del Rosario, unless they tell me that they are not interested, but I reiterate that it is being processed.
What are the expenses of an importer from Lanzarote in the PIF of Las Palmas?
An importer in Lanzarote is currently spending on the PIF of Las Palmas some horizontal movements of trucks that make the container leave a ship; arrive at the PIF; return from the ship, again by truck, to another ship; pass the PIF; pay the fee and arrive in Arrecife. That costs him 80, but in the PIF of Lanzarote it would cost him 100.
The opposition groups in Arrecife think that the position of the mayor, who asks for caution to claim port independence, is due to the presence of the Socialist Party in the government group of the City Council. You are a member of the PSOE. Is there any agreement that is not known?
I have committed myself to the authorities of Arrecife and Puerto del Rosario to tell the truth and to give exact information. They already have the technical information, and then they will not be able to say that they do not know. On the other hand, according to political responsibility, each one will make the decision to continue processing the PIF. We are going to process the PIF, in fact I am asking them to give me the installation project to send it to Madrid so that the Government can authorize the PIF. Yes to the PIF, but with the economic data of what it means to have it. The authorities must be fully informed before making a decision.
The request for port independence is motivated by the abandonment of the Port Authority of Las Palmas. Do the investments in the port of Arrecife correspond to the needs of the port facility?
We want to move forward with the Port - City action. We are going to commission, surely to the same winner of the contest, the basic project to adjust it to the recommendations of the jury, which established some modifications to the project. In addition, we have to review the amounts and profitability because the Port - City project is based on the private activities that are going to take place.
There are many procedures in between. When would the works begin to be executed?
It depends on the rhythms that we impose on ourselves. I hope to promote the drafting of the basic project to, from there, begin to plan everything that the new investments that would come out of that project would mean. I think it will be underway throughout this year.
The Port Authority is immersed in many problems.
How do you manage an entity with so many unknowns?
I was in the Mayor's Office of Las Palmas and one is used to problems. What is true is that many problems are accumulated here at the same time and logically it is difficult to solve them. Now the issue of the wind turbine contest came out, we have the traffic of transshipment of containers and the economic difficulties of the port, but I knew that the work was hard.
