“When the government draws up the maritime contract, the only people it wants to favour are the citizens of Melilla.” The Delegate of the Government, Sabrina Moh, has come to the step of the statements made by the people about what the new document has been intended to do to favor a certain company.
The highest representative of the Government of Spain in our city, in ‘Los Breakfasts’ of Onda Cero, has explained that the central Executive, when preparing the sheet, does so thinking about “all the issues that concern the citizens and that we want to appear in the maritime contract”.
A maritime contract, which has “a historical budget endowment”, and which seeks that the ship that provides the service must be new, given that it must be less than 5 years old. “We are seeing how there has been an important renewal with the boats that we are now having in the city and that has an impact on a quality service and boats according to what the Melillense citizens demand,” he said.
“It is a historical demand that we need ships to be cutting-edge and citizens do not want ships that are many years old,” he said, while acknowledging that he is struck by the criticisms made by the PP Executive regarding the fact that the Government of Spain wants to bring ships that are less than five years old, that are more respectful of the environment, and that have an important scope.
The Delegate has also pointed out that it has managed to consolidate all those advances that have already materialized in previous years while betting on a more modern ship.
Better prices and services than in 2018
Faced with the criticism of the PP, Moh has asked the Melillenses to remember what has been the model of the maritime contract of the popular in a historical way. “They brought us the oldest ships in history, the services were of lower quality, the prices were higher,” he recalled.
In fact, he recalled that it was this Government that has put a maximum rate on the vehicle, making the Melillenses pay less than half as much as with the PP.
Asked about the fact that the frequencies do not increase, which has been another of the criticisms made since the PP, Moh explained that the frequency number “is perfectly studied for the demand that there is in Melilla”, but, in addition, “in the case of an increase in passengers, the number of frequencies can also be increased”.
And, with regard to the 10% reserve for the Melillenses, the head of the Government Delegation has indicated that it is a measure that was carried out and that was executed in the current maritime contract, precisely at the request of the territory, since “it covered one of the needs we had”. “We are not talking about the fact that only 10% is reserved for Melillense citizenship, we are talking about the fact that Melillense citizenship, in addition to the 10% that is exclusively for residents, can also opt for the rest of the passages,” he explained.
“Right now we have better boats, better services and lower prices than when we arrived at the government”, he stressed, and stressed that, the document only seeks to respond to the demands of the citizens: more modern boats, more respectful of the environment, thinking about the welfare of the pets of the citizens, reservation of tickets for the melillenses…
As far as price rises are concerned, Moh has pointed out that, in the worst case scenario, it is 10 euros more in the standard cabin occupied by two people. “It implies an increase of 2.50 euros for the citizen of Melilla because we have a bonus of 75% and that compensation comes, in addition, in favor of having boats like the ones we are having right now in the city of Melilla.”
With respect to 75% of the ticket for a resident who pays for the central government, the Delegate has pointed out that the new maritime contract will amount to 20 million euros per year paid by the Executive of the Nation, to which is added another 20 million euros per year to pay for 75% of the ticket of the residents. “The government is going to start allocating, from the start of this maritime contract, about 40 million euros for maritime transport per year,” he said. “We are talking about important amounts that the government allocates to citizens to improve the service and to reduce costs,” he said.
Airport schedule
Continuing with transport, during the radio interview, the aerial and the extension of the schedule that the Melilla airport is going to carry out soon and that will mean that it is open until 10 p.m. has been addressed.
“It was a measure that we were going to carry out in 2020 and that due to issues of the pandemic and, logically, the closure of the airport, could not materialize,” said Moh, who explained that, after the frequencies and connections have been recovered, and after the increase in demand, the measure of extending the hours has been resumed. An issue “that is going to benefit everyone,” he said.
A measure, he said, that brings with it an issue of increasing human resources, while “we are going to continue working on issues that help improve not only connections, but also services and even the price issue.”