The plenary approved yesterday to award the contract for the service of collection and transport of urban waste and street cleaning of to the bidder Acciona for 38,738,553.59 € and an execution period of nine years, this is one of the most important contracts of the municipality.
This procedure involved the participation of the Committee of Experts on the subject, made up of personnel from outside the Town Council, except for one of its members, who was appointed by the municipal plenary. This Committee is the one that has analysed the criteria based on value judgements. Following the report of this Committee, the contracting committee evaluated the objective criteria by applying the formulas provided for in the Public Sector Contracts Act.
In his speech, the spokesman for Defend Calpe, Paco Quiles, pointed out that "the important thing is not to get the contract out, but that it works and works better than in the last 20 years. Now they are tying the next two corporations to this contract, there has been no consensus in this procedure and this will have consequences. Furthermore, there is no study to reduce waste, there is no review of the collection rate, the contract can be improved".
The spokesman for Compromís, Ximo Perles, stated that "we are abstaining because we were already against the specifications, we do not like this contract, and we will be watching to see how it is executed".
Santos Pastor, spokesman of PSPV-PSOE stated that "we are very critical of the technical specifications because it continues with the model of operation of recent years, the tender does not improve or modernise the provision of the service that will cost 4.4 million euros a year. There is no sensorisation of the noise of the vehicles, nor of the routes, nor of the state of the containers, a lack of demand on the part of the government. Furthermore, it introduces the construction of an eco-park when we are part of the Mare Consortium, which has already proposed its construction in the municipality".
The current councillor for Cleaning and USW, Juan Manuel del Pino, pointed out that "we have complied by awarding the service and the coming councils will be responsible for overseeing it and ensuring that the specifications are complied with".
The PP spokesperson, Noelia Císcar intervened to point out that "due to its importance, we need the new contract to be implemented now, and obviously we will have to supervise the company that carries it out".
EXEMPTING THE CULTURAL CENTRE FROM CHARGING FOR ITS FACILITIES
The plenary has also approved the modification of the current tax ordinance regulating the fee for private use or special use for profit of the facilities of the Casa de la Cultura in order not to charge this fee until 30 June 2024 in certain facilities in order to promote and support economic activity in Calpe.
Specifically, these are the classrooms and seminars, the ballet, fine arts and computer rooms and the multipurpose room whose prices range between 5 and 26 euros per hour or fraction thereof. The mayoress, Ana Sala, intervened at this point to emphasise that "this measure was put in place after the pandemic to help associations, the suspension of this fee has an impact on the budget of 15,000 euros and we have thought of doing it for a new academic year to help in the work of associations".
CREDIT TRANSFERS
Another of the highlights was the modification of the budget bases for the transfer of €30,000 of credit from the items of Protocol and Twinning to other expenses such as the subsidy of the Association of Bous al Carrer or the repair of the door of the Virgen de las Nieves parish.
Fom Defend Calpe, Toni Tur pointed out that "they modify the budget to grant subsidies, I do not doubt the need but the way it is done is very electioneering, we would like the procedure to be more open, transparent and equal".
For his part, Marco Bittner of the PSOE group stressed that "a certain discretionality is perceived, my personal vote is going to be against because I belong to ACEC and I cannot support bullfighting. We have just approved the budget and now there are subsidies and expenses that could have been considered. Let's make useful politics".
Ximo Perles, from Compromís, pointed out that "we abstain because we voted against the budget and if now there are modifications it is due to a lack of planning".
TERRITORIAL YOUTH PLAN
The plenary session also approved the Territorial Youth Plan. The councillor for youth, Rebeca Merchan, explained the content of this plan, which is the result of months of work and collaboration between various administrations, "it is an ambitious plan designed to be modified when necessary".
The Plan aims to be a working tool to identify the demands and problems of young people and to provide effective responses to their needs from different realities. All lines of action are framed in accordance with the guiding principles and guidelines of youth policies, as set out in Law 15/2017.
Defend Calpe criticised the plan "because it does not adjust to reality, it does not delve into the problems of young people, it does not talk about youth unemployment, it does not talk about the problems of access to housing, the lack of opportunities, there are no training courses in tourism, it does not quantify the number of students studying abroad...".
The Compromís councillor, Mireia Ripoll, valued the plan positively for involving young people and because the diagnosis is correct, but highlighted the lack of intervention, of concrete actions to diversify economic activity, to create social housing and other concrete measures.
Carolina Devesa, PSPV councillor, welcomed the elaboration of the plan as the regional regulations require this plan from the town councils but also criticised the lack of participation of the opposition groups and youth associations, as well as the lack of impetus, funding and visibility of the Youth department. Devesa pointed out: "we must be more ambitious, especially on a budgetary level, as youth policies are an investment".