SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 26 May. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, opened the door this Thursday to sign a new road agreement from 2027 that includes the cost overruns of the current one, valued at 1,607 million but with a planning of works for a higher amount to 4,000 million.
In an interview granted to ‘Radio Club Tenerife’ and collected by Europa Press, he pointed out that if the Canarian Government cannot assume the new costs, they are going to “formalize” a new agreement given that the Government focuses “on the important things, on solving controversies and conflicts.
He has given as an example of this attitude that the current agreement that was “judicialized” with an addendum of 407 million that extends the execution of the works from 2025 to 2027 has been given “full stop”.
Regarding the ‘green tax’ that the EU intends to apply to maritime and land transport, it has said that it will defend the exception for islands in traffic with third countries at a summit to be held next week in Luxembourg.
Sánchez has assumed that the Canary Islands and the island territories have “specificities” that must be taken into account and although there are “good expectations” to achieve an exemption from the measure, he has indicated that they have to “defend” it within the EU.
Regarding the trains of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, he has indicated that the Ministry has financed the drafting of projects “and now it is time to execute the works”, with an approximate cost of 3,800 million, for which fit is sought through the funds of resilience.
However, he has specified that they should not act “if there is no territorial consensus” –on the island of Tenerife there are political differences–.
FUEL BONUS
The minister has also opened the door to extend the bonus of 20 cents per fuel book that expires on June 30 “if necessary” but is still “monitoring” the situation.
Along these lines, he commented that both the Government and the CNMV (National Securities Market Commission) rule out for now that the discount is being absorbed by companies, although it does recognize an increase in fuel and crude oil prices.
Thus, it has assessed that the bonus is applied and consumers see it “on the bill” and makes it clear that if the cost were not applied “it would be even higher”, for which the Government continues to analyze all the measures taken to curb the impact of the Ukraine war and assess which should be eliminated and which should be retained.
