The Calp Plenary has approved, with the only votes in favour of the government team (PP - Ciudadanos), the tender for the service contract for the collection and transport of solid waste and street cleaning of the municipality. This is one of the city's most important contracts, worth €44,811,285.20 for a total term of nine years.
This item, the most important on the agenda, provoked a great debate among the municipal groups.
Defendamos Calpe spokesperson Paco Quiles spoke in favour of municipalising the service, criticising what he saw as the new contract being very similar to the current one. "We were 20 years with the previous contract to know how to make waste collection more optimal and how to reduce the cost of the service, and that wasn't done." He also demanded information about the calculation that was made to justify the cost of the tender, "It is important to know if we can save with this service or not," he said.
Compromís spokesperson Ximo Perles regretted that the contract was concluded according to economic and not environmental criteria, noting in this context that the Environment Council was not involved in the preparation of the tender. Among other things, it was criticised that no measures had been taken to prevent waste collection vehicles from Calp having to travel every night to the transfer station in El Campello, with the associated environmental costs. "Now they are saying that it is better to merge the service with a transfer facility with Teulada and Benissa. Why wasn't this done ten years ago when the Calp facility was closed?" he said.
Spokesman for the municipal Socialist group Santos Pastor described the tender documents as "outdated and obsolete". "In a city like Calp, which claims to be modern, we present a technical specification with a control of rubbish collection, in which a daily report of rubbish collection is filled out manually," he said. He also advocated municipalising the service, as Teulada-Moraira and Benissa have done through a public company and criticised the fact that the tender cost 30 per cent more than in Dénia.
Ciudadanos spokesman and Councillor for Territory and Environment, Juan Manuel del Pino, expressed surprise at the opposition parties' distrust of the tender and assessed as positive the work done by the technical services and the Calp Town Hall Secretariat in preparing it. In addition, he denied that the team of the Councillor for the Environment Ministry had been diverted from this tender, noting that there had been numerous meetings that he had had regarding this issue to raise various aspects, including the possibility of a transfer plant in Calp, on which he stated that it was neither economically nor environmentally feasible.
Meanwhile, PP spokesman Paco Avargues stressed that as the government team asked municipal technicians to "make a modern specification" to make Calp "a clean, sustainable and modernised city".
Highlighting the complexity of the tender due to its scope and impact on the city, Calp Mayor Ana Sala said, "With this contract, we wanted Calp to be the cleanest city in Spain, and if that is not possible, at least we are trying to get closer to that premise. In addition, the mayor explained some of the most innovative aspects, which include the replacement of containers and the fact that for the first time the municipality is introducing the collection and treatment of tree cuttings for recycling. "The specification is modern and committed to sustainability," she said.
Draft resolutions
On the other hand, the plenary approved the Socialist Group's motion calling on the Municipality to develop and implement a free post-COVID therapy programme to mitigate the effects caused by the virus. This item was adopted unanimously, but with the nuance expressed by the Mayor that to approve it, a secretariat report must first be prepared on whether the City Council has powers in this area and how the project could be implemented in this regard.
On the other hand, the resolution of the municipal PP, PSOE and Compromís groups was adopted to adhere to the statement of the FEMP regarding the participation of local authorities in European funds, so that municipalities can manage the European funds received with greater autonomy.