The spokesperson for the Socialist Group in the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Ariagona González, demanded during the plenary session held on Tuesday morning that Oswaldo Betancort terminate the contract with Canal Gestión Lanzarote once and for all, a company that "has been wasting water for 13 years, breaching the contract and leaving dozens of towns without supply."
During her speech, González lashed out against the latest statement from Canal Gestión on the occasion of World Water Day, in which the company launched savings recommendations to the population. "Physician, heal thyself," the spokesperson quipped, recalling that losses in the water network have skyrocketed to nearly 60%, despite the fact that the concessionaire committed to reducing them to 30%.
"The day that Canal Gestión surprises us with a statement counting how much water it loses daily and how many liters per inhabitant it equates to, including the impact of the tourist population, that day it may be able to give some lesson. Meanwhile, all it has done is accuse citizens of being wasteful, when it is unable to sustain even a pipe," González lamented.
The PSOE recalled that this negligence not only causes constant cuts on the island, affecting even more than 30 towns in a single day, but is also being financed with public money. "Oswaldo Betancort has offered to replace with funds from the Cabildo the racks that the private company has allowed to deteriorate. It's insane," she denounced.
The socialist spokesperson also criticized that, with two months to go before the completion of two years in office, the president still has no roadmap. "Every week he appears with a new idea: that he is going to fix Canal Gestión with public money, that he is going to impose penalties, that he is going to terminate the contract, that he is going to seize the service... Oswaldo is drifting, and with him we are all heading for shipwreck," she warned.
In addition, González directly asked the president about the content of the meetings held with Canal Isabel II in Madrid on February 6 and March 5. "Is he also improvising there? What agreements have been reached or what measures have been proposed?" she inquired.
A botched award and a complicit silence
The PSOE spokesperson also took the opportunity to recall the origins of Canal Gestión on the island, in 2013, through a negotiated procedure promoted by Pedro San Ginés and Ignacio Calatayud, "which was so botched that a ruling has ordered the review of that award." González demanded to know what steps the current president has taken to comply with that ruling.
"What he cannot do now is blame María Dolores Corujo, who was then mayor of San Bartolomé, for a decision that was made within the Water Consortium, where the City Council of San Bartolomé had 7% representation compared to 60% of the Cabildo, chaired by San Ginés of Coalición Canaria," she pointed out.
Rescue of the service and public management of water
Ariagona González concluded her speech reiterating the PSOE's commitment to a definitive solution: terminate the contract with Canal Gestión, rescue the service and move towards public management of the integral water cycle. "Only in this way will we guarantee citizens a dignified, safe and quality supply. These thirteen years of breaches, cuts and contempt for public resources cannot continue for even one more day," she concluded.
