Environmentalists GOB have attacked the government's transport plan, saying that it has little credibility and is opportunistic. GOB argue that all that the current administration has come up with over its three years in office are some new bus services.
GOB continue by saying that it didn't need to take three years to come up with a diagnosis of the transport situation and to then propose measures which could be as much as eight years away. Moreover, there isn't a budget for them. Yet the government presents the plan "as if it were a revolution" and does nothing but make promises when there are "more logical" measures that could have been adopted.
The organisation believes that as always there will be a budget be for new roads, and GOB criticise the government's missed opportunity to have developed a comprehensive mobility plan for Majorca. Included in such a plan should have been one for the metropolitan region of Palma and the rail network in order to have stopped the building of second ring roads and other roads with greater capacity.
The environmentalists conclude that "it is not acceptable that less than a year away from the election, they (the government) want us to believe their ideas".
As reported in the Bulletin, the plan for 2019 to 2026 envisages, among other things, new railways, a tram link to the airport and an absence of road building. The government did also offer a budget figure of 1,685 million euros.
President Armengol insisted yesterday that there will not be new roads in the next ten years except for projects being worked on or about to be. A question this raises surrounds state investments for roads. The current government had consistently demanded that the former national government of Mariano Rajoy paid what the Balearics were owed in outstanding investments that were specifically for road building. The Balearic government is still waiting.