Baix Camp County Council received a grant from the PRTR to finance the actions at the Waste Management Center
The Baix Camp Regional Council (CCBC) obtained financial aid from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) to carry out different interventions at the Regional Center for Waste Management, located in Botarell. The amount of the subsidy was 20,582,573.40 euros.
However, on January 24th, the Audit Office of Catalonia issued report 30/2023 in which it questions that these works to expand and improve the facilities have not begun. In addition, it indicates that the CCBC would have been one of the beneficiary entities that did not provide the necessary information to justify the investment.
Faced with this resolution, the Regional Council has clarified that “the request for information from the Trade Union referred to the grants for the year 2022” and that “the current Government is solving the administrative difficulties that have delayed the start of the planned works”.
Likewise, the institution has committed to execute and justify the project by the deadline of May 31, 2026.
Report of the Audit Office
The CCBC wants to improve administrative performance and comply with the recommendations of the Trade Union, which also affect Cervera City Council (Lleida) and the decentralized municipal entities of Estartit and Campredó (Girona).
The Audit Office of Catalonia prepared this report based on the document “Anti-fraud plans approved by local entities that participate in the implementation of the measures of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan”, with the aim of determining whether good management of the resources received from the PRTR.
The Syndicature’s conclusion is that the Council “approved beyond the deadline, with a delay of more than a year, their respective anti-fraud measures plans” and that the information not provided corresponded to the justification of the 2022 annuity. For therefore, a total of 3.77 MEUR of the subsidy.
The deadlines for works at Secomsa
The Statutory Auditors of Catalonia requests agility from the Baix Camp County Council to start the works, since these had to materialize in three years, according to the economic agreement; and at the date of the report (October 2023) no action had yet been launched.
Although the deadline for execution and justification – marked by the initial documentation – ends on December 31, 2025, the grant allows an extension of a maximum of five additional months. The Next Generation Funds grant application was approved by the Waste Agency in December 2021.
The interventions to expand and improve the Regional Waste Management Center of Baix Camp, located in the municipality of Botarell, respond to the Sectoral Territorial Plan for Municipal Waste Management Infrastructures of Catalonia (PRINFECAT).
Update anti-fraud law
In the framework of the report, the Union also emphasizes the need “to fully implement the procedures aimed at improving the fight against fraud recommended by the various governing bodies and the European authorities”.
In the case of the CCBC, this plan would be exclusive to the entity and the main ‘problem’ would be that the documents were not sent to the National Anti-Fraud Coordination Service within the deadlines set for the request for information.
At the same time, the report specifies that, despite being properly structured in the areas of “prevention, detection, correction and prosecution”, the Regional Council’s anti-fraud plan would not correctly define the measures and, therefore, requires an update.
According to the Statutory Auditors, these plans would also not include a unit to analyze complaints, review projects in case of fraud or assess incidents after the fraud has occurred.