The PP has accused the former mayor of Tías, José Juan Cruz Saavedra, of executing the works on Avenida de Puerto de Carmen "without legal coverage", thus causing the City Council to now have to return the 6 million euros of the FOMIT credit plus 1.5 million in interest that were not planned.
In response to the criticism made last Monday by the PSOE, which blamed the current government group for this situation, for not having justified the works in time, the PP has assured that the municipal secretary of Tías certified before the State that the works carried out in the previous term "do not coincide or resemble what was projected" and an inspection by the Ministry of Tourism of the Government of the Canary Islands in 2013 accredited "that the PSOE officials did not apply the money from the loan to the real project" of these works.
The project was developed between 2008 and 2011, "when the PSOE was in power", according to the current mayor, José Francisco Hernández. "We already said then that these works were a mess, as also denounced by the residents and businessmen of the area. Time has proven us right," Hernández said.
It was in 2008 when the City Council of Tías launched a series of works on Avenida de las Playas de Puerto del Carmen charged to a special loan from the State, via ICO, for an amount of six million euros. In that approval, the Secretary of State for Tourism placed "a series of conditions" on the Consistory, according to the PP.
Among them, that what was projected should be executed, and that the private tourism sector should invest at least 30 percent of the public investment. In addition, it was specified that "the eligible investments must be made within a maximum period of four years from the perception of the financing granted".
"Negligence, shoddy work and whiffs of 28 years of socialist government"
The Councilor for Economy and Finance, Ramón Melián, has assured that the municipal secretary certified on July 2012 that the works executed "do not faithfully conform to what is specified in each of the actions contemplated in the document." Both the mayor and this councilor have insisted that the "worst" of all is that the City Council is condemned "to return the interest on six million euros, (which amounts to another 1.5 million euros), for some badly done works, without legal coverage, by being done without adhering to the previous projects".
Melián has described as "intolerable" that "the negligence, shoddy work and whiffs of 28 years of socialist government in Tías are transferred as responsibilities to the current government group". In this sense, he has lamented that the PSOE wants to "transfer" this issue to the PP, "when it is accredited that from this City Council, its current rulers and its mayor have acted to defend the legitimate municipal interests and those of the citizens".
Melián has referred to the criticisms made by the PSOE in a press conference this Monday, in which he assured that the City Council was going to suffer "an economic setback" due to the "errors and negligence" of José Francisco Hernández. In this sense, the councilor Saray Rodríguez has explained to La Voz that the interest that the Consistory will have to face has increased because of the PP.
The PSOE accuses the PP of increasing interest rates
In addition to defending the legality of the work, because "everything was done with the technical reports", Rodríguez has indicated that the interest on this loan was about 158,000 euros but now it has increased to 1.5 million euros. "Being within the FOMIT credit, only 0.5 percent interest had to be paid. When the PP came to power, the Secretary of State for Tourism told them that the deadline to execute the works and justify them had ended. They justified them badly and a new requirement was made," he indicated.
The PSOE has assured that "all the City Council did was" remain "in silence, total and absolute". "The administration initiated the file to revoke the aid and again required the City Council to present the documentation. The City Council did nothing, did not present allegations," he said.
The file came to the attention of both the Government of the Canary Islands and the Santander bank, which was the one that gave this credit, within the agreement with the FOMIT. "Santander gave a touch and told them that the interest was now set by the entity. Instead of 0.5 percent, they set it at 3.8 percent plus the EURIBOR, which amounts to 1.5 million euros. Before we had a credit negotiated with the FOMIT and now with the bank, which will set the interest that suits them for not wanting to justify well some works with legal protection", Rodríguez insisted.
