Palma.President Bauzá met yesterday with the Mayors of Manacor, Son Servera, Arta, Capdepera and Sant Llorenç which are those municipalities which have been affected by the freezing of construction work on the Manacor to Arta trainline.
Large earthmoving equipment has dug out great swathes across these territories in the east of the island and in the case of Son Servera, the town has been divided in two and a new cycle lane dug up.
The project has been put on hold because funding which was due for the construction programme failed to arrive from Central Government and in fact much of the work undertaken has been carried out on regional government assurances that the money would be forthcoming.
Now the President and the Mayors are making plans to lobby Central Government's Minister for Public Works. They will ask him to honour the agreement he signed with the previous Socialist Balearic government back in 2008 for the financing of the new train line. The rendez-vous between Bauzá and the Mayors took place just hours after a Regional Railway Project Steering Committee meeting took place in Madrid to debate the future of the rail line.
The Steering Committee members, which included the Managing Director of Majorcan Railways, José Ramón Orta hammered out a new timetable for the construction of the train line, establishing a longer timeframe within which to complete the project.
The members also set out a staged payment proposal whereby Central Government could pay the money it owes under the agreement over an extended period of time.