“They tell us that the Navarre canal will serve to water over 21,000 hectares in the Ribera. They sell us that this work will be able to transport all the water we want at the same time, but the numbers say it will reach a maximum of 15,000 hectares.” The spokesman for EH Bildu, Adolfo Araiz, in the Parliament of Navarra, told the Territorial Cohesion Advisor, Oscar Chivite.

While the counselor's appearance called for UPN to clarify the beginning of the works of the Channel's Second Phase, significant announcements by the counselor have taken a new direction after Araitz's turn. In fact, the counsellor has not set deadlines and has allocated the delay of the works planned for the last quarter of 2023 to the constitution of the Government of Spain.

With regard to capacity, he pointed out that the users of the First Phase of the canal did not consume 30% of the water they receive, and the Government of Navarra would ask them to return to the Second Phase of the canal to the Ribera. “We ask them for solidarity so that the right we guarantee them does not become a privilege,” says Chivit.

Taking these data into account, Araiz concludes: “If there is water in the Ribera and channels such as Lodosa, Imperial, Bardenas, Tauste, etc. It is true that in some places it is not the most suitable for human consumption, but to meet the demand for industrial and human consumption in the south of the community, this type of work has never been necessary.”

EH Bildu asks for explanations on funding

In addition to the environmental impact, Araiz raises doubts about the funding of the channel: “Since 2013 the Government of Navarre has granted Canasa a grant of EUR 77 million, and according to this year’s data the company’s treasury is estimated at EUR 67 million.” EH spokesman Bildu says that his party is going to ask for “public explanations” about this and will carry out “close economic monitoring” of the Canal de Navarra.

Chivit explains that half will be financed with public money and the other half with users. “We don’t want all Navarros to pay for this nonsense,” Araiz says.