Government to run up 35m euro debt to pay for rubbish disposal plan

The Balearic government will run up a debt of 35 million pesetas to be able to meet the agreement signed with the Council of Majorca, under which it promised to finance 30 per cent of the cost of the master plan for rubbish disposal which is not financed by the European Union. The new debt, which must be added to the one included in this year's budget, was agreed at a government meeting held at the end of last November, but details were not announced at the time. The Council of Majorca will hold a meeting on Monday at which it will accept the new payment conditions of the government. The loan will be contracted by the environment ministry and it will be paid off by the year 2016, at a rate of 1.9 million euros a year, although in the year 2005 it will have to pay 5.2 million euros. This means that the Council can now go ahead with its rubbish disposal plan. However, apart from the infrastructures which it has planned, the Council of Majorca must also take the decision of whether or not it wants to expand the incinerator with a third furnace or build a controlled rubbish tip. Majorca produces 520'000 tons of rubbish a year, but the authorities have found that 200'000 tons cannot be handled by the incinerator, due to problems involving the dumping of builders rubble. Miquel Angel Borràs, head of the Council's environment department, has had meetings with representatives of local political parties, informing them that a decision must be made as soon as possible. The parties in the ruling coalition have told Borràs that they prefer a controlled tip to a third furnace. But despite this, the constant increase of rubbish has lead to Council president Maria Antonia Munar saying that it will be necessary to enlarge the incinerator during the next legislature. The ashes left by the incinerator are also problematical although a special tip for them is now being built at Son Reus, after several municipalities refused to provide a site for them.