“The Government Delegation is assuming the same competencies that it assumed in last year’s Operation Strait Pass (OPE) or that it has assumed previously and where the Port Authority has always been present.”
The highest representative of the Government of Spain in our city, Sabrina Moh, to questions from the press, has denied that the institution she heads is assuming powers of the Port Authority, as pointed out by its President, Víctor Gamero, to justify the absence of the port agency in the meetings of the Territorial Coordinating Committee of OPE 2023.
The Delegate of the Government, Sabrina Moh, has asked Gamero that, “if he does not perform functions or is not at the service of the citizens and in the interests of managing the OPE, he should not look for any kind of excuse.” “I should assume the reality and say that he is not willing to collaborate and that he is not willing to facilitate the work, because this Delegate and this Government Delegation has not assumed any competence that had not been previous years and where the Port Authority was represented,” he stressed.
At this point, Moh has recommended that Gamero leave the crispation aside, and that he side with the Melillense citizens “collaborating and working so that Operation Paso del Angol 2023 develops in the best possible way.”
Something that both the Government Delegation and the other agents involved are already working on, has apostilled, in reference to the Territorial Coordinator and Head of the Civil Protection Unit of the Government Delegation, the Territorial Directorate of the Ingesa, the Command of the Civil Guard, the Superior Police Headquarters, the Local Police, the Functional Area of External Health, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainability, the Ministry of Infrastructure, Urbanism and Sports, Maritime Captaincy, Red Cross, Maritime Station and Mediterranean companies.
All entities except the Port Authority met both last week and this week to continue advancing the work of coordination and preparation of this OPE.
In the Delegate’s opinion, Gamero’s attitude is due to the proximity of the general elections and a purely electoralist interest. For this reason, he has urged him to “put aside the crispation and to side with the Melillense citizens” and collaborate so that this OPE develops “in the best possible way”.
Timetables
The Delegate, focusing specifically on the meetings held on the occasion of the OPE, explained that several aspects have been agreed, such as the conditioning of the different surrounding lands, implementing shady areas, water points, seating areas… as well as the adaptation of the schedules of the shipowners, to be able to manage both the arrivals and the departures of the ships, thinking about landings and shipments.
“This year we have designed a landing so that we can combine both landings and shipments and that waiting times can be reduced,” he said.
Specifically, some landings have been advanced and some shipments are going to be delayed so that both arrivals and departures can be answered, but he has warned that the time modification “has not been an excessively long range”.
Moh, finally, thanked the work and collaboration that both the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Infrastructure have been having and showed his desire that we can have an OPE without incident.