01/08/2000 00:00
TW
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President of the Insular Council of Majorca, Maria Antonia Munar, warned yesterday that compensation will not be paid to those affected by the new building moratorium urging compensation seekers “to forget it” adding “for many years compensation has been the threat used by opponents to moratoriums.” Munar highlighted the fact that the moratorium does not allow for compensation to be paid, but added “if we had to pay, it would be worth spending public money on protecting our lands.” “Majorca only has a future if the institutions are capable of managing and controlling land development, maintain natural resources and effectively manage the waste we generate,” the Insular Council President said. Munar yesterday presented the new set of norms and regulations approved by the Insular Council last Friday, she said that by basing the region's tourist industry on quality and not quantity “we will be able to develop a progressive and manageable economic model which will provide the Majorcan population with a high quality of life.” After 16 years of “uncontrolled” development, Munar said that the island “cannot take any more” and the President of the Insular Council maintains that the new measures need to be introduced affecting all three building permits, rural, urban and plots classed as development sites. Munar said that the moratorium is not “aimed against anybody but in fact, in favour of Majorca and its inhabitants.” Munar is also convinced that in the long term the moratorium in Majorca will benefit the economy and she answered her critics by saying that the majority of Majorcan society supports the building freeze. “It's only extremists who will never be satisfied with the moratorium,” Munar said. The construction industry has expressed its opposition to the building crack down, but from environmentalists to the hotel industry, it has been praised, although many feel that the freeze has come too late. mc.mdbUbitel.es