The Government of Navarra has a debt of EUR 2 billion in the shadow prizes
- The first phase of the Canal de Navarra, the Highway of the Camino (Iruñea-Logroño) and the Navarre section of the Motorway of the Jaca have long ended. The payment of these gigantic infrastructures, however, will last a long time and in the next two decades the Government of Navarre will have to pay some EUR 2 billion to the companies that allocated them.
The foreign government plans to devote approximately EUR 100 million annually to the cancellation of these debts. In particular, this year EUR 98.2 million, more than EUR 72.3 million, will be earmarked from its budget for the cancellation of external debt.
This annual disbursement will increase to €110.6 million in 2021. According to this extinguished payment, the Government of Navarra did not need to put money into the construction of the infrastructure, but in the following years – about 30 – each year it pays a fee as a usage fee to the construction company concerned. In this process, the company is responsible for the execution and maintenance of the infrastructure.
The point is that this model is a way of privatising infrastructure and is much more expensive for the citizen than it is for governments. Thus, for example, the Government of Navarra had already paid the cost of the motorway to Logroño in 2017, i.e. EUR 390 million, although the government will continue to pay the annual fee until 2032, a total of EUR 1.2 billion, three times the cost of the work.
According to data published by the News Journal, the foral government still has to pay EUR 620.8 million for the Jaca motorway, EUR 550.6 million for the Camino highway, EUR 365.8 million for the first phase of the Canal de Navarra and EUR 433.2 million for its expansion. These sums bear a very serious burden on the foreign government's budget, particularly in the area of improving infrastructure.
The budget of the Government of Navarra for 2019 amounts to EUR 4.3 billion. The mould of the shadow prizes becomes, therefore, a form of business, a competition to carry out these infrastructures, and their concession becomes a product of sale. The concession of the Camino motorway, for example, has gone through investment funds such as Globalvia, Infrastructure Panther or the fund of the Swiss bank UBS.
All these data come from the analysis of the 2018 General Accounts carried out by the Chamber of Comptes.
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