The Residents' Federation criticizes land liberalization in Palma: "The only thing that satisfies is the market."

PalmThe Palma Residents' Federation on Friday criticized the recently passed law that plans to rezone rural land for the development of thousands of apartments. Specifically, they denounced the fact that the regional government is handing over public land—which was intended for the construction of amenities—to developers to build rental housing at prices that, they considered, "are anything but affordable for the people who have the greatest difficulty finding housing."

For the organization, this confirms that Palma has an administration "that has no desire to control the market." "Giving developers profits so they can make a profit that meets their inflated expectations does not solve the housing problem for people who are most in need," they lamented. They also criticized the City Council for making decisions about land without taking into account the community structure and the needs of the affected neighborhoods.

"They do this without providing any information and flouting Articles 11 and 12 of the Organic Regulations on Citizen Participation (ROPC), which establishes the right to be declared an affected entity and states that the City Council must provide sufficient prior information so that entities can exercise this right," they recalled.

"It may be that the Legal Services of Palma City Council have forgotten the ROPC by not taking it into account, except when it suits the City Council. But part of their function is to recognize the rights of citizens and constituted citizen entities, and we want to draw attention to its importance and." In this sense, the Federation considers that urban planning is of "first level of importance" for the neighborhoods and the city and the treatment of municipal land, because it is treated as public, requires that it be treated with the real participation of neighborhood entities.

For all these reasons, they have demanded the withdrawal of these lots from the agenda of the next plenary session; the urgent sending to the associations of the initial documentation related to the treatment of the municipal land included in these lots, so that they can request to be considered an affected party, as stated in the ROPC and that the neighborhood entities of the affected neighborhoods be convened to discuss this issue in person and taking into account the needs of the neighborhoods.