02/10/2013 00:00
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Staff Reporter

PALMA
AINA Calvo, the Mayor of Palma, said that, on matters of town planning, it is essential to “combat the feeling among citizens that things only get done if you have a good friend, a family member, or know somebody on the council”.

She underlined that the council is working towards making the law “the true guide” and eliminating “improvisations, nepotism, and favouritism”.
During the council meeting, Calvo confirmed the “precarious situation” of the council when it comes to public territory and criticised the “evident indifference of the previous Balearic Government to constructing council houses”.

At the same time, she underlined that during this term of office it has been proposed that it should be obligatory “to stop the improvisation” in the management and planning of building which “has brought the city very few benefits” as, in her opinion, has been shown by the flooding of various metro stations during last weekend's heavy rainfall.

With regard to this, she complained that this event put the current Balearic Government in a “delicate” situation, as they have now been forced to invest time and money which “they had not expected” in an infrastructure “supposedly finished and opened with all the pomp due to an emblematic project”.

She said that the flooding of the metro had convinced her of the necessity to change the relationship between Palma council and the Balearic Government “replacing the principle of acceptance with one of continued coordination” between both institutions, with the aim of jointly planning building activities.

Calvo repeated that, with regard to town planning, the previous council should not have acted “rapidly” if that meant contructing a metro “incapable of withstanding heavy rainfall, putting the lives of the passengers at risk”, or award a work and management contract for the Congress Hall “without owning the site where it is to be built”.

Because of this, the Mayor announced that during the next four years this council will invest the “necessary time” in planning and designing, as “only by doing this can we offer a good service to the citizen” and added that she will act with “responsibility and from the point of view of security and economy”.

She also announced that one of the first activities for the council with regard to town planning will be to define a model of the city, so that Palma citizens will have a “participation” in its future in the medium and long term, and revise the sea front project, where work has been suspended for a year.