Immaculate Martinez | Valencia (EFE).- The Vehicle Technical Inspection Service (ITV) of the Valencian Community faces this week the first phase of its reversion to public management after 25 years of privatization, when the contract for the concessionary companies, now confronted with the Generalitat.
The rest will do so on March 3, once the extension granted by the regional administration has expired to compensate for the period of closure of the stations as a result of the declaration of the state of alarm for COVID-19.
Privatized by the Zaplana government
With the return to public management, originally scheduled to start on January 1 of this year and extended for two months, a 25-year period of privatization of the service came to an end by decision of the Government of Eduardo Zaplana in 1997 and which has had as derivative the trial -pending date- to the ex-minister and expresident for the possible collection of commissions derived from the ITV concessions and wind farms in the Valencian Community.
A few years after the privatization was implemented, in 2004, the then Minister of Territory with the PP Rafael Blasco -convicted of diverting funds from public aid to international cooperation- instituted a noise test for vehicles to pass the ITV, which made the price of the test and that as of January 1, 2023 it has been suppressed.
It has been a minister of Compromís, Rafael Climent (Economy), who has carried out the reversal of the service to improve quality, and thus give way to direct management, which will be in charge of a commercial created expressly and integrated solely by public capital from the Generalitat, the Valencian Vehicle Technical Inspection Society, directed by the mayor Josep Antoni Albert.
The main objectives of the ITV Society are to improve the public service and that citizens do not have to travel more than 30 km from their place of residence, for which reason it will create new stations in Torrent (Valencia) and in the interior of Castellón and it will convert those of Santa Pola, Calpe and El Campello (all three in Alicante) into permanent ones.
At first and with a budget of 80 million euros, the rates will be maintained this year, once the price has been lowered due to the suppression of the sound level meter, Albert has told EFE.
Dealership Complaints
In recent months, the Association of ITV Concessionary Entities of the Valencian Community (AECOVA) has warned of the “imminent chaos” that is going to take place and of the “illegal” that the Ministry of Economy commits in the way of undertaking the process and that It is going to cause the start of lawsuits by the concessionaires due to disagreement in the liquidation of the contracts, according to EFE’s spokesman, Francisco Llopis.
In his opinion, the Ministry should grant an “exceptional and transitory” authorization to the concessionaires to continue providing the service for as long as it deems necessary to comply with the process in accordance with the law.
Llopis points out that the administration must follow the State Contract Law and should have called a public tender for supplies (computer systems or personnel training); In the case of the Redován and Orihuela stations, the facilities are freely available to the commercial companies, so they will be disabled on the date of the reversion and the administration should go to a tender.
He also criticizes the attempt to seize the facilities and assets “on the last day” of the concession without indicating a reasonable time for the delivery to take place before the reversal and in a “precipitated” manner, as well as the fact that the companies cannot continue to maintain to its workers beyond the end date of the contract, after the administration has decided to extend the temporary contracts to June 30 to facilitate the process.
The number of workers from the concessionaires (there are seven: ITV Vega Baja, Pistas Iteuve, Valenciana de Seguridad, Valenciana de Revisiones, ITV de Levante, Atecsa and Applus) that will be voluntarily subrogated to the public company is one thousand.
key dates
The February 24 deadline affects the ITV stations of Alcoy, Benidorm, Gandia, Ondara, Ontinyent, Orihuela-San Bartolomé, Redován, Torrevieja, Utiel, Villena, Vinaròs and Xàtiva.
The one on March 3 corresponds to those of Alicante, Alzira, Castelló, Catarroja, Elche, Llíria, Massalfassar, Riba-roja de Túria, Sagunto-Port de Sagunto, San Antonio de Benagéber, Valencia-Campanar, Valencia-Vara de Quart and Villarreal
The Generalitat is developing a new appointment platform to continue providing the service and the general director has asked the public for understanding in the face of a possible flood of requests; It also warns that it is possible that the day after the end of the contracts -that is, February 25 and March 4- revisions cannot be made since the verification of the facilities and assets subject to the reversal is planned.
The companies have reported that they do not make a prior appointment from the end date of their contracts, and from the public company they confirm that lots 4, which includes the area of Gandia, Dénia, Alzira and Xàtiva, and 6, in Villena and Redován, continue giving appointments this Friday.
inspection prices
Currently, the Valencian Community has current prices for the ITV service, updated on January 1, 2023, of 44.23 euros for gasoline tourism and 34.49 for uncatalyzed gasoline tourism, and 48.31 for tourism diesel.
The elimination of the sonometry test has allowed a saving of 11.25 euros for the citizen who passes the ITV, which in the Community has had “one of the highest” prices in Spain, according to EFE, the general director of the ITV public company. EFE
