The Public Sector’s Jack-of-All-Trades
In the world, there are people who are good at everything—the handy types who can fix a drain, tile a bathroom, paint a wall, or clear and condition a piece of land. If we had to find a public sector body in the Canary Islands that fits this description, a true jack-of-all-trades, it would undoubtedly be Gestión y Planeamiento Territorial y Medioambiental (Gesplan). Founded in 1991 as Planeamientos Insulares de Canarias SA, its primary objectives, according to its founding statutes, were conducting urban planning studies and development activities, such as land preparation and urban infrastructure works.
From Modest Beginnings to a Corporate Mastodon
What began as a modest public entity with a share capital of 50 million pesetas has transformed into a corporate mastodon with over 2,200 employees and an annual turnover of 80 million euros—a figure it now aims to double. This giant has long aroused suspicion in the private sector due to the practice of “self-contracting,” where the public administration assigns work to itself. As a publicly owned company, part of the government conglomerate, Gesplan often handles projects that are either not put out to public tender and are assigned directly through management mandates, or are awarded to Gesplan after a public tender receives no bids.
The Expanding Reach of a Mega-Organism
But just how far do the tentacles of this giant squid of the Canary Islands public administration reach? Today, it is a mega-organism tackling a colossal number of tasks. It no longer just conducts urban planning activities; it also performs property valuations, creates databases, and carries out environmental studies. Similarly, it can be enlisted for studies or works related to agriculture, livestock, fishing, or aquaculture, and it provides forestry and firefighting services.
Gesplan also undertakes tasks linked to historical heritage management and offers training through courses, seminars, and workshops. And that’s not all. The Regional Ministry of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Waters—to which Gesplan is attached—announced this week that the company will now take on tasks related to animal welfare. This includes managing protection centers, feline colonies, public health installations, protecting wild flora and fauna, and developing animal evacuation plans.
Ambitious Expansion and Internationalization
The intention is for Gesplan to also assume control of the emergency services and the 112 emergency coordination center (Cecoes), separating this service from the public company that has managed it for 30 years. Furthermore, the company’s new strategic framework aims to expand its internationalization and enable it to support small and medium-sized island businesses in their ventures abroad. Plans are already in motion, backed by the autonomous community’s budget, which foresees an increase in spending and staff to fulfill this ambitious expansion plan.
Its personnel costs will increase by 21 million euros next year, above the public sector average, pushing its payroll above 56.2 million euros. In terms of staff, Gesplan is a large company, especially considering the size of the Canary Islands market. A mere 0.2% of companies with employees in the Islands have more than 500 staff on payroll, and Gesplan far exceeds this number, placing it in a very select and tiny group in the Canaries.
A Public Giant Casting a Shadow
Gesplan is, therefore, a commercial giant that casts a shadow over the private sector. The company does not belong to any wealthy individual or a group of shareholders eager for dividends, but to all Canarians—even if no profits are distributed. However, with its colossal activity, it could equally be harming the local economic fabric. How? The inherent purpose of a public company is to act only when the private sector is unable to address or cover a need, at least with sufficient capacity. In other words, the goal should be to resort to it only out of necessity, for greater efficiency and speed, and not systematically, as many companies and professionals claim is currently happening.
Official Defense Versus Private Sector Concerns
Manuel Miranda, the Councillor for Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Waters, defends the company, stating it handles tasks linked to less common business sectors and fills gaps, helping the administration manage its administrative burden, which in many cases it cannot execute itself. “We must not demonize it; it is there because it is necessary for many administrations, especially the smaller ones,” he asserted, defending that Gesplan “generates economy across all the islands.”
However, some business associations and professional bodies in the Archipelago do not see it this way and believe that the assignments to this public company are going too far. “It is distorting the market and free competition,” criticizes the dean of the College of Architects of the Tenerife province, María Nieves Febles. She argues that if the majority of public administration contracts in these sectors are channeled through the publicly owned company to increase agility and bypass the bureaucracy of public sector contract law, it “reduces opportunities for private companies” to access these projects. In her view, the risk is the creation of a public sector monopoly that increasingly strangles private professionals.
Widespread Professional Opposition
But architects are not the only ones concerned. Two years ago, all professional colleges and associations in the Canary Islands—except the College of Quantity Surveyors of Tenerife—signed a manifesto denouncing the direct and repeated assignment of work within their competence to public companies belonging to the Government of the Canary Islands, including Gesplan. They urgently called for measures to regulate these mandates but have received no response to date. This claim has already found support in the courts, after the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands annulled assignments made to Gesplan by the town councils of Candelaria and Arafo for not being sufficiently justified.
Construction Sector Adds Its Voice
The construction industry has also raised its voice on several occasions. The president of the Association of Builders and Developers of Las Palmas, María Salud Gil, states that a “nationalization of public works” is occurring. She notes that it is becoming increasingly common not only to assign work to the Canary Islands’ own public companies but also to national public companies like Tragsa or Aquaes, “adopting them as if they were their own, skirting the law.” For her, these assignments hide nothing more than the inefficiency of the administration itself, which, “incapable of managing, chooses to tiptoe around the law to push projects through.” She emphasizes that this type of assignment to public companies—through contracts that have received no bids—has already siphoned 1.5 billion euros away from private initiative.
The Root of the Problem: Outdated Contract Prices
The president of CEOE-Tenerife, Pedro Alfonso, states that as long as Gesplan fulfills its commitment to award at least 50% of its public contracts to local companies, the relationship with the business association will remain fluid. However, he does criticize the fact that the inefficiency of public administrations results in self-assignments to this and other public companies. The reason? The outdated prices included in public contracts, which lead to tenders receiving no bids because companies know they cannot complete the project at those costs. These projects inevitably end up in the hands of public companies, which ultimately become responsible for their execution.
