No to waste imports calls for an audit of Tirme: "Rates exceed real costs"

PalmaThe platform No to the import of waste has demanded that the Consell de Mallorca review the calculation of the waste tariff and carry out independent audits in view of the "serious conclusions" of the financial control report. Faced with information about the publication of the island institution's financial control report, the platform, made up of 20 entities, has focused on the "stratospheric profits" obtained by the concessionaire company Tirme.

In a statement, it has demanded that the Council "immediately" launch a review of the tariff calculation methodology and commission independent audits. In its opinion, the report's conclusions are "scandalous and cannot be overlooked." Specifically, according to the platform, a unfavorable assessment of the concession is made, which harms the Administration "with a serious impact." Furthermore, "structural imbalances and indications of excessive profitability," high dividend distributions, and practices that "may constitute a hidden distribution of profits" are detected.

The platform has assured that the report indicates that tariff increases exceed the real costs of the service and that the tariff review incorporates IPC increases applied to infrastructure investment, which is not acceptable from an accounting and contractual point of view. Likewise, it has stressed that since 2023 the Consell de Mallorca has made extraordinary contributions of 103.5 million euros to contain and regularize tariffs which, it has warned, are now "seriously questioned" by the report. Sources from the platform have shown their "indignation" at the fact that "they have looked the other way" in the face of this situation, they have remarked, "so detrimental to the citizens."

Thus, they have called on the island institution to immediately review the contract with Tirme, to carry out a new tender that "corrects" the current situation of the contract, an independent audit and, among other issues, to apply the limitation on the incorporation of the CPI to depreciation.

Given what they have considered a "serious" situation, they have called on citizens to "firmly demand the restitution of the general interest" in the waste treatment contract. Likewise, they have proposed to the parliamentary groups that they request the intervention of the Court of Accounts and they keep open the possibility of taking legal action in defense of the public interest.

MÉS warns of "stratospheric" profitability

This Sunday, MÉS per Mallorca already pointed out thatthe General Intervention warned of an "stratospheric" profitability while the PP injects more than 100 million public euros to contain, subsidize and regularize the rates of the concessionaire. For this reason, it demands political responsibilities to the president of the Council, Llorenç Galmés, and an immediate review of the concession of Tirme after a report from the General Intervention of the Council confirms, with data and technical criteria, the complaints that the formation has made throughout the legislature. The report qualifies the concession as "unfavorable" and of "serious impact", questions the tariff formula and warns of profitability levels that it considers disproportionate for a company that manages an essential public service.According to the report, since the end of 2023, more than 103 million euros have been mobilized through credit modifications to contain, subsidize, or regularize tariffs. This year alone, the Council has approved a new contribution of 41.4 million euros. At the same time, the concessionaire presents a profitability of 77%, according to the party's denunciation. "This is not efficient waste management. It is a golden business for Tirme and a bad business for Mallorca. If there are these profitabilities, the PP's solution cannot be to put even more public money into it," states the spokesperson for MÉS per Mallorca, Catalina Inés Perelló.