The PSOE of Lanzarote has demanded that the president of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort, immediately withdraw the water price increase, deeming it a decision without technical backing that transfers the cost of failed management to the citizens and lacks the necessary legal guarantees.
The socialists have denounced that the attempt to approve this tariff increase responds to an operation linked to the transfer of the integral water cycle contract, promoted without transparency, without institutional consensus, and without offering legal certainty to public administrations or citizens.
In this context, the socialist mayors of Tías, San Bartolomé, and Haría, along with the mayor of Yaiza, have formally warned in writing the Insular Water Consortium of the serious legal, technical, and economic risks that approving this increase entails under the current conditions.
In the document transferred to the Consortium, the mayors warn that it is inadmissible to increase the cost of a service that presents serious structural deficiencies, with repeated supply cuts that, according to the concessionaire itself, reach up to 61%, 42%, 53% and 49% of the days in their respective municipalities.
Likewise, they warn that the fare increase is being considered in the midst of the contract's transfer process to a new company, despite the fact that said transfer has not yet been approved nor does it have the necessary legal guarantees. The concessionaire itself sent a proposal that included a 32.68% fare increase, which confirms that the increase in the price of water is part of a business operation that could compromise the public interest and the legal certainty of the administrations.
In this context, the PSOE of Lanzarote has denounced the obscurantism with which Oswaldo Betancort has managed this process, hiding relevant information from the municipalities and trying to push forward a decision of enormous impact without the transparency or consensus required for the management of an essential service.
Furthermore, the socialists have warned that this operation allows Canal Gestión to abandon Lanzarote without assuming the consequences of its management, after having doubled the losses in the supply network and without having executed the investments committed in the contract. Added to this is the serious deterioration of the infrastructures, with clearly insufficient maintenance of the desalination modules, two of which are currently out of service, aggravating the supply problems suffered by the island's municipalities.
The general secretary of the PSOE of Lanzarote and deputy in Congress, María Dolores Corujo, has been forceful in this regard: “Oswaldo Betancort intends for the citizenry to pay with a water price increase the consequences of failed management and an operation without guarantees. An essential service cannot be made more expensive while allowing the concessionary company to abandon the island without assuming its responsibilities”.
Corujo has defended the mayors' actions, pointing out that "they have acted with responsibility and in defense of the public interest, warning of the serious legal and economic risks of a decision that lacks technical backing or sufficient guarantees. Faced with Betancort's obscurantism and improvisation, our mayors have shown up to protect their municipalities and all the citizens of Lanzarote."
Corujo has demanded that the president of the Cabildo rectify immediately and withdraw a water price increase that he considers unjustified, insisting that “water is a basic right and cannot become the instrument to facilitate the exit of a company after years of non-compliance. Lanzarote deserves transparent, responsible management focused on the general interest, not decisions that only harm citizens”.
