The Generalitat has asked the State to delay until February 1, 2024 the transfer of management of the operation of the Segarra-Garrigues canal.
The Minister of Climate Action, David Mascort, did so in a meeting with the executive president of Aguas de Cuencas de España SA (ACUAES) on Wednesday to agree on the details of the transfer of the exploitation of this infrastructure.
Initially, it was planned that the Generalitat would assume management of the operation starting next month but, according to Department sources, it is now delayed due to administrative times, since the transfer addendum was not signed until July 21 and Therefore, the exploitation had not yet been put out to tender.
The agreement provides that the Government will be in charge of the operation, conservation and maintenance activities, replacement of elements and equipment of the hydraulic infrastructure that promotes part of the canal.
During the meeting, the details of the session on the management of the exploitation of the Segarra-Garrigues canal were discussed based on the bases included in the addendum to the agreement that was signed in 2006 for the execution and completion of this infrastructure. The addendum was signed on July 21 and it had initially been agreed that the Government would take charge of the channel from October 1, but it has now been delayed.
The management of the Segarra-Garrigues channel by the Generalitat may be carried out directly with its own means or through contracting or commissioning a third party in accordance with the established legal procedures.
According to the Ministry, the Government must guarantee that the infrastructures that are transferred for exploitation must be at all times available to fulfill the function for which they were designed and built.
Likewise, it is also necessary to maintain its functionality, safety and state conditions, through a maintenance agreement, which implies assuming all the costs associated with the exploitation of the infrastructures and facilities that are part of it.
The Segarra-Garrigues canal, 82.4 kilometers long, has cost 450 million euros (VAT excluded). Its commissioning has allowed water to reach 11,650 hectares, of which 15,700 are attached to the irrigation system. The channel will be owned by the Generalitat in 2058, once the more than 650 million invested by ACUAES have been paid.
Among the infrastructures that the Generalitat will exploit starting next year is also the Albagés (Garrigues) dam, with a capacity of 80 cubic hectometers, which has a regulatory function between the canal and the irrigation sectors that it supplies with the storage of the flow. that carries the canal from the Rialb reservoir.
The Ministry recalls that the exploitation of the infrastructure will be subject, as until now, to the rules and agreements adopted by the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation (CHE), as well as compliance with the rules on water, safety of dams and reservoirs and protection of the environment, particularly those that refer to the use and protection of the public hydraulic domain.
