Everyone’s “fed up” with the Palacio, says Barceló

“I believe that they don’t want to finish the work in order to have some means of applying pressure,” he added, Acciona having yesterday accused the government of not having paid its August invoice for two million euros. Barceló pointed out that he yesterday signed the authorisation for this amount to be transferred to the contractor, even though the deadline for payment isn’t in fact until mid-December.

As far as Barceló is concerned, Acciona is delaying the work intentionally in order to try and extract the 16 million euros that it is claiming as compensation for the two-year suspension to work during the period of the previous administrations in Palma and regional government. The town hall is only willing to accept a payment of four million. Furthermore, Acciona has, since the end of September, built up a backlog to the work and so is looking at going beyond the completion date. This will bring with it a 20,000 euros per day penalty and is something, suggests Barceló, that the company is seeking to avoid and is, therefore, applying pressure by delaying work (as a negotiation tactic).

“We are aware that it won’t be finished by 31 December,” Barceló says, despite Acciona having promised that it would be, and adding that the Palacio company, government and town hall have not refused to meet with Acciona directors. The town hall has announced that it will call a new meeting with the contractor in order to "resolve the situation.”