The deputy of the Popular Party (PP) for the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Pablo Matos, and spokesperson for the PP on housing matters, denounced this Monday that the Canary Islands "is the second autonomous community that will receive the least investment per inhabitant in housing in 2008: 3.22 euros, only surpassed by Murcia with 2.08 euros", according to the Draft General State Budget (PGE) for 2008.
In a press conference in which he stated that he felt "astonished and absolutely outraged" by the treatment that the socialist government gives to the Islands in a matter "as sensitive" as housing, Matos explained that for 2008 a budget item for housing in the Canary Islands of 6,172,000 euros is included, which amounts to about 3.22 euros per inhabitant.
"It is the second to last community in investment since only Murcia is treated worse, as each inhabitant will receive 2.08 euros", detailed Pablo Matos, who stated that these figures "are even more outrageous when the Canary Islands are compared to Extremadura, a community governed by the PSOE, where each inhabitant will receive 12.11 euros in housing, that is, four times more than the Islands".
Money for the neighborhoods
The PP deputy also criticized that the socialist government has eliminated from the 2008 PGE project 5.5 million euros that were destined for the remodeling of neighborhoods in the Canary Islands and the provincial housing boards, "while maintaining 14 million euros for the remodeling of the neighborhoods of Barcelona, especially El Carmel (4 million)".
In addition to specifying that the Francisco Franco Board of Las Palmas and the La Candelaria Board of Tenerife will not receive money, he assured that "what has been done with the Cuesta Piedra neighborhood of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is a real outrage".
Pablo Matos recalled that in the first phase 247 homes were replaced and that in the second phase 108 homes were planned. "Those 5.5 million euros were necessary not only to finish the remodeling of La Cuesta Piedra but also for the neighborhoods of José Antonio and La Candelaria, in Tenerife, which were created in the 50s and are in a terrible state", he said.
He explained that all the administrations signed the agreement for the replacement of the La Cuesta Piedra neighborhood, but the state government "has left the rest of the Canary public administrations hanging" since it refuses to finance "the second phase and leaves the works of that neighborhood halfway".
Political Intentionality
For the PP deputy, the fact that items destined for the neighborhoods of the Canary Islands and Madrid have been eliminated from the State Budgets and those of Catalonia have been maintained demonstrates "the political intentionality of reducing the items".
Matos sent a message to the PSC-PSOE and specifically to the president of the Socialist parliamentary group, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, whom he reminded that being the most voted party in the elections and not governing "hurts, because that has also happened to the PP in Galicia and the Balearic Islands, for lack of a deputy, and in Catabria".
"I know it hurts, but the PSOE must assume it and has to work and stop punishing the citizens of the Canary Islands because they are not to blame for the PSOE not having achieved a majority", he asserted.
ACN Press
