The Boletín Oficial del Estado of 24 July publishes two emergency contract awards authorising fast-track construction and supply works to cope with a 126 % year-on-year surge in irregular arrivals on the Atlantic route. The contracts, awarded by the Sub-Directorate for Security Infrastructure Planning, cover new reception modules, sanitary facilities and rapid-assembly shelters in Fuerteventura and El Hierro. Officials cite “extreme urgency” and the risk of a humanitarian crisis as justification for using the negotiated-without-notice procedure under Article 120 of the Public-Sector Contracts Law. Winning bidder Mediohabit S.L. will deliver prefabricated units and power/water hook-ups within 30 days. The Canary Islands have received more than 23,000 boat migrants so far this year amid calmer summer seas and instability in Senegal and Gambia. Existing CETI centres are saturated, forcing authorities to house arrivals in marquees and requisitioned hotels. The new facilities should add 1,200 beds and dedicated interview rooms for asylum screening. For global-mobility teams moving staff or dependants through the archipelago, the works mean that police resources may be diverted and waiting times for NIE registration could lengthen temporarily. Companies running expatriate assignments in the islands should schedule immigration appointments well in advance and budget for possible hotel shortages in Fuerteventura. The emergency contracts also include a logistics budget for charter flights to redistribute migrants to mainland reception centres once capacity allows, signalling that inter-regional transfers will continue through August.
Source: Boletín Oficial del Estado
