The PSOE Canarias has denounced "the paralysis" of the regional government in the management of hydraulic works. In this sense, it has described as "incompetence" that the current Executive has not "been able to carry out a single one" of the 50 projects prepared by the Pacto de las Flores.
The former Minister of Ecological Transition and current senator for the Autonomous Community, José Antonio Valbuena, has demanded that they "work to get them out and not look for excuses" to justify their inaction in these four months that they have been governing.
Valbuena does not understand why those currently responsible "blame the previous management and allude to the fact that there are projects without land, when there are eight of them that do not need land to start them -because they are extensions-. In this line, he pointed out that there are other projects that have availability on the ground, as in the case of the Macher Collector, La Asomada and Los Topes, all of them in Lanzarote.
In addition, the Alajeró treatment plant and the adaptation of the Vallehermoso WWTP (both in La Gomera).
The senator has also criticised that in 2019 "when we arrived at the Executive, we found that no project had been planned during the previous term. From 2015 to 2019 they did nothing. Anyone can check by going to the technical office that their projects in the area of hydraulic works were zero", he points out.
Regarding budget execution, he assures that the Government presided over by Ángel Víctor Torres also had to manage a budget from the previous government in 2019 "and we had no problem executing it".
The PSOE Canarias has recalled that the second half of the year - which is when most execution takes place - depends on the current team and "we greatly fear that they will not be able to execute even half of the budgets allocated to the Water area. That is why they are putting the bandage on before the wound", he asserted.
Lanzarote Hydrological Plan
Valbuena added that the hydrological plans of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote were also left ready in the previous legislature "and they have to comply with them. The problem is that, in four months, they have not wanted to convene the Autonomous Environmental Assessment Commission, which with the previous government met once every month. If the environmental body does not work, the paralysis is absolute". The former councillor warned that "if these plans are not approved before the end of the year, there is a risk of being sanctioned by the EU and having to return European Next Generation funds".
The senator concluded that the only interest that exists in the General Directorate of Water is to "blame the previous government or copy the same ideas", since they have announced the creation of a water observatory, which was already planned with an allocation of six million euros.
