Ladarrero critica al ayuntamiento por no invitar a DPZ a las aperturas en vecindarios rurales.

The vice president of the Zaragoza Provincial Council (DPZ), Teresa Ladarrero, criticized the city of Zaragoza for not inviting the provincial institution to the inaugurations of the executed works in rural neighborhoods. «DPZ pays, I organize the party, and they don’t even have the decency to inform us,» she protested.

«They did it last week with the Montañana Pavilion, which was funded by DPZ over 50%, and they did it again with the new parking lot in San Gregorio, which in this case was fully funded by a contribution of 48,000 euros from the provincial council,» Ladarrero reiterated.

She also criticized that the Zaragoza City Council did only a third of the new works that had to be carried out in rural neighborhoods, resulting in an excess of 2.5 million euros spent compared to what was budgeted. The city council also refused to meet with the provincial institution before the agreement expired.

«We must remember that they only completed 33% of the new works that had to be done in rural neighborhoods, so we haven’t paid them 4 million euros since the last payment, and we still owe them 2.5 million euros in their current account, which has not been justified yet because the works have not been completed,» Ladarrero explained.

Furthermore, Ladarrero lamented that the Zaragoza City Council did not participate in their request to hold a monitoring committee at the end of the year to facilitate and extend actions. «They left us hanging,» she said.

«After having invested so much and considering that we have already paid the 2.5 million euros, which have not been utilized, it is only fair that the Zaragoza City Council receives the same treatment as the other 292 municipalities in the province. All are equal, and the city council in Zaragoza must fulfill its obligations like the others,» Ladarrero defended.

The sources from the provincial institution indicated that the latest agreement between DPZ and the city council, signed for the period 2021-2024 for a total amount of 16 million euros, expired on December 31st, with the final meetings scheduled for December 19th and 20th.

DPZ stated that the agreement had two parts: one to continue improving the equipment and infrastructure of rural areas and another, included for the first time, to coordinate common services such as firefighters or waste management.

In exchange for providing these services to the municipalities of the province at a Lumpar fee, the Zaragoza City Council would contribute 4 million euros to the Provincial Council, as stated by the same sources.

The remaining 12 million euros were meant to be invested in rural neighborhoods: 3 million to cover the costs of exceeding the 2017-2019 agreement and at least 9 million for various planned works, services, and equipment in rural areas.

At this juncture, the provincial institution confirmed that, according to the information provided by Zaragoza, the funds allocated to cover the costs in the previous agreement totaled 2.5 million euros. This means that the Zaragoza City Council spent 5.5 million euros on works and brought in 8 million euros to DPZ for projects in rural neighborhoods.

Therefore, the Zaragoza Provincial Council understands that the city council has a balance of 2.5 million euros, which would have been 6.5 million if the provincial institution had transferred the last payment as agreed.

FUENTE