Pedro Martín is grateful that the PP puts aside the “ruinous short-termism” and blames Sí Podemos for breaking the governance agreement
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Dec. 14 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín, has presented this Wednesday the 2023 budget that breaks a record and adds a total of 946.8 million, 20.7% more than that of this year and which rises to 1,055 million if it is 20% more are computed by public entities and companies.
Martín, who has appeared together with the vice president, Enrique Arriaga (Cs), and the Minister of Finance, Berta Pérez, has valued the PP’s support for the accounts because it has put aside the “ruinous short-termism” due to the proximity of the elections so as not to “hinder” the island and cause “tremendous damage” to the economy.
He has insisted that it is a “powerful and expansive” budget with which he tries to “get it right” in the needs of the island and has highlighted that a “meeting point” has been reached with the PP after entering into negotiations with all the groups .
However, he has made it clear that the agreement with the popular is “exclusively budgetary” and does not extend even to the rest of the term and even less in view of the upcoming island elections in May.
By virtue of the agreement with the PP, more than 3 amendments worth about 17 million and linked to sanitation, employment programs, subsidies and cultural investments have been approved, while also opening the door to the study of the Northern trains and the South.
Martín, who has rejected initiatives on trains throughout his term, has qualified that the South train “is not a priority” to solve traffic problems on the island, not that he is against the project, and he understands that this Action must be defined in the mobility study that the Cabildo has commissioned and will be completed by the middle of next year.
He has indicated that he has “many doubts” but is “respectful” of a political agreement in which the PP requests that studies and proposals be made to continue working on the execution of the project.
The budget freezes the salaries of directors and senior positions, as was done in 2021, and includes a strong 40% increase in investments to reach 269 million.
From the social point of view, which covers 25% of the accounts, there will be 291 million, with growth in all items, especially scholarships, which rises by 10 million more, while home care is introduced for the first time to people with ALS.
The Institute for Social and Socio-Health Action (IASS) alone will manage a budget of 259.5 million, 9% more than in this year, which includes the start of works in 12 social and health centers that imply 888 new places.
Likewise, 167 new workers will be hired, with which personnel spending rises 28%, with 73 million, and the social policy ring improves its accounts by 84.6%, up to 4.8 million.
REHABILITATION OF THE TAORO HOTEL
Martín has had a special impact on tourism items, which increased by 23.4% to 32 million –with two million for the rehabilitation of the Hotel Taoro– and on the primary sector, which he considers “strategic” for the island beyond of “bucolic speeches” in defense of the countryside.
In this specific case, the budget grows by 26% to 33 million.
For employment, the Cabildo document allocates 10.3 million, with 3.9 million for the ‘Neighborhoods for Employment’ program and two million in hiring incentives for companies while Sustainable Development and Climate Change will consume 69 million, a 8% more.
This includes 26.5 million for the new waste management contract, 8.6 million for improvement works in the Arico environmental complex and 21.6 million for the treatment of “black water” discharges, which according to Martín, will already reach more than 9% of the island.
The Cooperation and Housing chapter, for its part, rose 23% to 26.8 million.
Arriaga has presented the accounts of his Ministry –Roads and Innovation– which include 126.5 million for mobility, “the second concern of the people of Tenerife after the social sphere”, 68% more, with 101 million in subsidies for transport public (+41 million), the incorporation of 40 buses from a batch of 130 or the drafting of projects to bury the entrance lane to the Santa Cruz de Tenerife interchange or the construction of the Los Cristianos interchange.
In the case of roads, the accounts increased by 26% to 88.6 million, of which 30 million are dedicated to conservation and landscape improvements.
A total of 16.9 million have been reserved for Innovation, of which 4.9 million go to the ‘Talentum’ program, an initiative with which the Cabildo seeks to ensure that young people do not leave the island, Arriaga pointed out.
“I ALWAYS FULFILL WHAT I PROMISE”
Regarding the rupture of the governance agreement –Sí Podemos has announced its rejection of the budgets– it has blamed the purple coalition since everything that was established in 2019 “has been fulfilled”, among other things, because the Circuit project del Motor had been left out.
“There are others who have broken,” he insisted, criticizing that Sí Podemos brings out “at the end of the game” other new elements. “I always keep what I promise and it is in writing,” she added.
However, he believes that it is not only about the Motor Circuit project, since throughout the mandate there have already been several threats of rupture.
All in all, the president has assessed that the budget will be approved this Friday because, otherwise, with an extension the accounts would drop to 400 million and would prevent investment in the two highways, the stoppage of social services and scholarships or the impossibility of giving aid to the primary sector and sports clubs.
