Environmentalists demand the Ombudsman to act regarding Tirme's rates

PalmaThe 'No to Waste Importation' platform has filed a complaint with the Balearic Islands Audit Office regarding Tirme's rates and has demanded that the Council of Mallorca apply the recommendations from a financial control report on the waste treatment concessionaire. The entity processed the complaint through the Son Sardina Neighborhood Association following the publication of the final report by the Council's Financial Control Service regarding the tariff revision for the municipal solid waste treatment service.

The document reflects that Tirme obtained profits of 32.6 million euros in 2024 and warns of structural imbalances and signs of excessive profitability in the concession, the platform detailed in a statement.

According to the organization, the report also questions high dividend distributions and certain intragroup operations, as well as tariff increases that exceed the actual costs of the service and the application of the CPI to infrastructure investment.

Furthermore, it highlighted that the Council has provided 103.5 million euros in extraordinary funds since the end of 2023 to contain and regularize tariffs, contributions that remain “seriously questioned” by the document’s conclusions.

The platform has requested that the Sindicatura urge the island institution to review the contract and promote a new tender, as well as to commission an independent audit on the concessionaire's assets, its credits, and intragroup operations.

It also demanded temporarily limiting dividends, intragroup loans, and other resource outflows, applying the CPI limitation to amortization, and supervising the process to guarantee its transparency and legality.

The president of the neighborhood association and spokesperson for the platform, Agustina Fernández Periago, has expressed her “perplexity and indignation” over a situation she considers harmful to citizens and has warned of the risk of service deterioration and greater tariff pressure if no action is taken. “We do not want this to remain a report locked in a drawer,” she stated.