The Government Delegate in the Balearic Islands, Alfonso Rodríguez Badal, has announced that the Council of Ministers will today, Tuesday, approve a series of contracts and supply investments, including an allocation of €2.8 million to the Integrated System of External Surveillance (SIVE) in Formentera, for the installation of radars to detect small migrant boats.
“Today, the Council of Ministers is expected to approve a new declaration of urgency for the procurement of supplies worth around €3.7 million, of which €2.8 million will go towards the tender for the SIVE station in Formentera, which had been stalled for years and is very necessary”, Rodríguez Badal said on Tuesday during his appearance before the Senate’s Joint Committee on Island Affairs.
Rodríguez Badal explained that this surveillance system is one of several infrastructure improvements being carried out by the State Administration in the Balearic Islands. Among them, he mentioned the tender for a new police station in Mahón with an investment of €12 million and the provision of housing in Ibiza for members of the security forces, representing an investment of €25 million.
Improvements have also been approved for the Ciutadella barracks, worth €1.2 million, and the Guardia Civil project in Santanyí will be put out to tender after 45 years of the land being ceded for that purpose.
In his appearance, requested by the PP and Vox, the Government Delegate in the Balearic Islands committed to improving the services of the General State Administration in the islands. He stated that he has held meetings with the Platform for Dignified Insularity aimed at “trying” to increase the insularity allowance, “which needs to improve and is a long-standing demand of state civil servants”.
“I consider it a fair and deserved demand, and I am firmly determined to continue working to achieve it and ensure it is updated”, said Rodríguez Badal, while warning that this improvement in the insularity bonus “in itself will not solve the housing problem in any way”. “Surely, within one or two years, rising rents will have swallowed up that increase”, he added.