Santa Cruz de La Palma (EFE).- The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, said this Friday that in sixteen months the Government of Spain has mobilized 500 million euros for the reconstruction of La Palma that have benefited 24,000 people, and added that with the contributions of the Canarian executive and the Cabildo it has reached 670 million.
In a press conference after the meeting of the mixed commission for the reconstruction of La Palma after the volcanic eruption, the minister stated that this is a record number, and stressed that it has occurred with a speed that had never been seen before Produced in Spain after a natural catastrophe.
A press conference in which the President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, declared that “given the statement that the aid has not arrived, say that it is not true”, and has indicated that the economic services of the administrations certify that 605 million euros have been delivered.
And the president of the Cabildo de La Palma, Mariano Hernández Zapata, has insisted that they will not rest until a solution to the housing problem is found, and has assured that it has to be better than before the volcanic eruption that began on 19 September 2021.
The minister began his speech by saying that this is his seventh visit to La Palma after the volcanic eruption and that he will send the Ombudsman a report with the measures adopted until December 31, 2022.
Félix Bolaños has acknowledged that he understands that for those who have lost everything or something, the time elapsed is “a lot”, for which he regretted that it was not possible to act more quickly, although he emphasized that in December of last year approved a decree law to extend the aid, and that it hopes will be validated next Tuesday in the Cortes.
He has pointed out that the problem of 30 women who did not receive care was even solved because the ownership of the homes they had lost corresponded to their deceased husbands, and he has referred to the agreements signed last month with the Cabildo de La Palma and the City Council of Los Llanos de Aridane endowed with 24 million euros to rebuild infrastructures.
He also alluded to fiscal measures such as deductions and withholdings, and that 140 million euros are included in the General State Budget for 2023 for La Palma, and that they will be for employment, housing and mental health plans.
He also spoke about the fact that the Government of Spain is looking for a legal accommodation to the problem that supposes that, with the law of forced expropriations, the lands affected by the lava hardly have any value, since the value they have after the condition is taken into consideration, not the one they had before the eruption.
He has recognized that the Canarian executive and the Cabildo de La Palma insist on the need to find a solution.
The President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, has reiterated that the first decision after the volcanic eruption was to respond to the housing problem, although he has acknowledged that there are still some people who are in hotels, but it is because their homes are affected by the gases.
The eruption affected some 600 people and of the families that have lost their only home, two remain in hotels because they have decided to wait for a flat, which will be delivered to them in February, he explained.
Ángel Víctor Torres has stated that there are a total of 298 homes purchased or in modules, to which are added 531 families that receive rent payment, and has also alluded to the emergency works being carried out on the island.
He has also spoken of a decree law that has been approved to build on rural land, a measure requested by 250 families, and the president of the Canary Islands has pointed out that this afternoon they will meet with neighbors to discuss the draft reconstruction decree, with which Consensus will be sought.
The president of the Cabildo de La Palma, Mariano Hernández Zapata, has affirmed that we must look for alternatives to the problems that have not been solved, such as the lack of money for current spending by corporations. EFE