The Consell de Ibiza has responded to criticism from the PSOE, which on Monday accused the island government of “letting the Technical Inspection of Vehicles (ITV) service die” in order to justify a future privatization. These statements come after the Consell’s decision to halt the search for land to build a second fixed ITV station, a project announced more than three years ago but which failed to move forward due to the lack of available plots and the restrictions of the Insular Territorial Plan.
In a statement issued this Monday, the island authority has rejected these accusations and stressed that “in no case does the future of the vehicle inspection stations involve a ‘privatization'”.
“The decree of the Balearic Government which is being processed contemplates the authorization regime, which means that together with the public ITV, other ITVs will be able to operate, always complying with the conditions set by the decree and under the supervision of the Consell d’Eivissa, which will ensure that they have the requirements of the ENAC certificate, issued by the Entidad Nacional de Acreditación, the only Spanish organization which can grant this type of accreditation”, argued the organization presided by Vicent Marí.
“This authorization system the Consell de Eivissa will never disassociate itself from a service like this,” clarified the Consell.
Criticism from the PSOE
This morning, the PSOE denounced “Vicent Marí’s decision to let the ITV of Eivissa die as an excuse to privatize the service” and warned that the current headquarters “has reached a point of collapse, with four months of waiting for a previous appointment”, in addition to the “failure to build a second public station”.
According to the PSOE spokeswoman in the Consell, Elena López, the alleged privatization would include “doubling the fare paid by users”. Meanwhile, Conseller Víctor Torres has explained that, despite Vicent Marí’s announcements since 2019 about the construction of a new station, “no progress has been made beyond empty promises.”
“Eivissa’s vehicle fleet has grown from 65,130 vehicles in 1998 to 160,835 in 2023, which evidences the need for a second fixed station,” the socialist group pointed out.
“The elimination of budget items for this project in 2022 and the recent announcement by the Island Council of Vicent Marí that they are waiting for a regulation from the Govern Balear to liberalize the sector, reflect a renunciation to assume and manage their competences and make it clear that their intention at all times has been to privatize the service,” they concluded.
Appointment delays and the future of the tariff
The Consell also explained that “due to vacations and sudden staff leaves, the average time to obtain an appointment at the ITV has increased in the last weeks”. For this reason, it was reported thatthe Human Resources Department is in the process of hiring new staff to “cover these casualties”. On this point, the insular body has put in value that in 2024, 25% of the vehicles that passed the ITV have taken at most 10 days of waiting, and that “the average waiting time is 52 days, about a month and a half, remembering that in 2018 it was more than six months”. On an eventual price increase, the Consell reported that “there is no economic study that shows this data and the prices that depend on the public services of the Consell will not be raised as has been pointed out”.
