The mayor of Haría, Alfredo Villalba, showed his indignation this Friday on the program Buenos días Lanzarote of Radio Lanzarote - Onda Cero due to the gravity of the supply cuts in his municipality after the urgent call for an extraordinary Consortium carried out last week with the seven town halls of the island.
Villalba criticized "the high tone of all participants" before the microphones and emphasized the tension experienced in the meeting. "It's not for nothing because we are talking about an issue that directly affects absolutely all the town councils and Haría more than the rest because the water cuts are exceeding 60% of the days... let them tell me how I can explain to my neighbors that with a representation of 1.38% I can put solutions on the table that will be heard by the CEO and the president of the Cabildo," he stated.
As you will recall, the town councils of Tías, San Bartolomé, Haría and Yaiza have rejected the 15% water rate increase for not "being backed by solid reports and transparent management".
"I believe this is a historic opportunity that has been missed in Lanzarote to show society that the political side of this island has capacity and foresight, but the reality is that we are faced with a discretionary, autonomous, and exclusionary action towards those mayors who are not considered part of the Water Consortium," he continued. In this regard, he pointed out that "the Consortium has been governing completely behind the backs of these four mayors who have clearly and resoundingly protested this increase."
Faced with the increase in fares, the northern mayor assured that "this is a mockery because until a short time ago they said that the fares could not be increased and now that they can... this is a true continuous unreasonableness".
Alfredo Villalba assured that the Water Consortium "intends for us all and each one of the citizens of this island to pay for the mismanagement of Canal Gestión, using a report from a prestigious economist to justify and pave the way for the new concessionaire to access the assignment of that contract".
"The water problem is fixed by putting money"
The mayor of Haría explained that "we know that the water problem is not going to be fixed in six months or a year, but the way to solve it is by putting money in and if the town councils have to put it in, there is no problem, but we have to go hand in hand".
Furthermore, he criticized the absence of the mayors of Tinajo and Teguise. "Sincerely, it is a situation important enough for the seven town halls on this island to take the reins of what is happening with the water issue, and we cannot continue looking the other way," he said.
Regarding whether the Haría City Council received the requested documentation in the urgent call for an extraordinary Consortium, Villalba commented that "yes, but we have a report from the legal services from September 30 and they gave it to us for this assembly... here something is being hidden and we have to defend the interests of our neighbors once and for all."
Finally, the mayor showed his anger regarding the possible compensation to Canal Gestión. "Not only do we all inhabitants of this island have to pay a 15% increase, but we also have to be responsible for possible compensation and we are talking about around 70 or 100 million euros," he concluded.
