TW
0

Palma.—Although there has been no direct contact between the Ministry for Public Works and Maria Salom, the new President of the Council of Majorca, there is a belief that probably after the November general elections, Central Government will want back the amount of money that it gave Majorca to build roads but which was used by the Council during its previous term of office for other purposes.

Funds for road building provided by Central Government are sent directly from the Treasury to the Council of Majorca where there is no separate account maintained for holding funds which are to be used specifically for road building. From the time that the funds were sent at the start of the previous Balearic government led by a Socialist coalition, 74 million euros have been spent on road building out of a total subsidy agreement of 389.7 million euros.

However, Central Government reserved the right to award contracts for regional road building as it saw fit along with the control of project management. This clause in the agreement seriously slowed the bureaucracy of construction and the Council of Majorca has claimed that the Minister for Public Works didn't sign on the dotted line for any of the draft projects that were sent to his department from Majorca.

The “time lag” between the provision of funds and the award of contract greatly affected the Council of Majorca's Road Building schedule, particularly access roads to Palma. The Partido Popular, in opposition during the previous Balearic government had raised the concern over the absence of projects but the then President of the Council of Majorca, Francina Armengol made no reply.