The inclusion of new electric models has resulted in an increase in the vehicle fleet of the Alicante Provincial Council. This is one of the main reasons why the provincial agency is creating an automobile inventory. Taking advantage of this fact, the four political parties currently represented in the Provincial Palace – PP, PSPV-PSOE, Compromís and Vox – An agreement was reached to create a new regulation determining the criteria for vehicle transfer to 141 municipalities in the province.. This aims to promote free competition and eliminate the doubts that cause these transfers to be made manually.
One of the triggers for this initiative was the proposal submitted by Compromís to the last general assembly session.It had the support of PSPV and Vox. After the government team committed to carrying out inventory and transfer arrangements, Valencian coalition spokesman Ximo Perles finally decided to withdraw the motion. Another of the origins of this initiative is the approval in September of the free transfer of ownership of two Provincial Council vehicles to the municipal councils of Busot and La Canyada.With two former PP MPs, Alejandro Morant and Juan Molina, as mayors, this has caused grumblings among other political groups.
«Due to the important renovation works being carried out, we will take inventory of the vehicle park. To make the cars available to municipalities, we need to look at all the variables: utility, pollution, safety…”, explains David Aracil, the popular MP for Innovation. “Once we know the cars we have, all groups need to sit down and decide on the transfer criteria,” he adds. With everything, Aracil assures that only three cars have been transferred to municipalities in the last five years.There are two more, the one we talked about last September, in 2019 and 2022. “We cannot say that this is a recurring and periodic thing,” the popular one adds. Apart from this, there are currently 11 transfer requests in the vehicle parking entry records, 8 of which are from the municipalities in the province, all of them are small, 2 from associations and 1 from the institute.
subsidies
The spokesperson of Compromís said that one of the motivations that led to the proposal being brought to the last plenary session was that, while the criteria of objectivity and transparency for subsidies granted by the Provincial Assembly were determined, they were not applied to the instruments. «It was not regulated and therefore we want a protocol with objectivity criteria So all municipalities can give the cars a second life while the vehicle fleet is being renewed”, says Perles. However, despite having the support of other opposition groups, the representative of the Valencians decided to withdraw the motion. «I presented this because at the general assembly meeting in September about the vehicles donated to Busot and La Canyada I asked questions and no one answered me. If an arrangement needs to be made, we will meet to make it,” Perles concludes.
Regarding the debate, socialist MP Francis Rubio reflects: «Things are not going bad so far, but the work of the Provincial Council needs to be made transparent.Because this is what an increasingly conscious and critical society demands. Finally, Vox spokesperson Gema Alemán adds that “it is recommended to carry out an inventory to identify vehicles” and calls for preference for smaller municipalities.
Sustainability is an issue to consider
In addition to inventorying vehicles and determining transfer criteria, this debate in the Provincial Council also revolves around sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals. “Electric vehicles are being purchased, but at the same time others are being handed over to municipalities as they become obsolete and pollute the environment,” says the popular David Aracil. “We must ask ourselves whether it is appropriate to donate vehicles with more than 300,000 kilometers to municipalities,” says socialist Francis Rubio.