Canarias audit body finds 35 projects worth €162 million went unspent between 2019 and 2023

A report on capital investment from 2019 to 2023

The Audiencia de Cuentas de Canarias has identified 35 investment projects that, despite carrying a combined budget allocation of €162.8 million and having had funding assigned in at least one financial year between 2019 and 2023, ended the audited period with «zero euros» spent. This is set out in the audit report on budget execution under Chapter VI «Inversiones Reales» (Capital Investment) of the Comunidad Autónoma de Canarias for the 2019–2023 financial years.

The report was approved by the full board of the Audiencia de Cuentas on 30 September 2025, according to the institution itself. The body's president, Pedro Pacheco, presented its main findings to the Parlamento de Canarias.

The audit examines capital investment execution over a period that broadly coincides with the legislature of the so-called pacto de las flores (PSOE, Nueva Canarias, Podemos and AHI), and focuses on the regional government's ability to convert budget allocations into completed works, infrastructure and facilities.

To that end, the Audiencia carried out a specific analysis of four areas that account for a significant share of regional public investment: Obras Públicas, Transportes y Vivienda; Educación, Universidades, Cultura y Deportes; Transición Ecológica; and Administraciones Públicas, Justicia y Seguridad.

€1.225 billion left unspent

Among the report's main findings is that the Gobierno de Canarias left €1,225 million of its capital investment budget unspent across the years under review. The report puts the precise figure at €1,225.7 million.

The execution rate improved from 36.72% in 2019 to 58.53% in 2023. Even so, the Audiencia considers those percentages low compared with other budget chapters, and says they reflect significant difficulties in translating planned investment into reality. According to the report, this is the chapter with the lowest execution rate.

35 projects at zero euros

One of the most striking findings is the existence of 35 projects that received budget allocations during the years under review yet ended the period with zero euros spent, representing a combined total of €162.8 million. The majority are road infrastructure projects.

The Audiencia locates the root of the problem in the planning phase. The report highlights that investment projects are budgeted «without the necessary degree of maturity» to ensure they can be delivered on time. In numerous cases, schemes are included in the budget before preliminary studies, land availability, drafted technical designs, administrative permits or environmental impact assessments are in place — circumstances that prevent procurement or construction from beginning.

The weight of European funding

The audit body explains that this situation is closely linked to the heavy reliance on external funding for public investment. Approximately 60% to 70% of the capital investment chapter is financed through European funds and other ring-fenced contributions, which obliges the administration to include projects in the budget to balance the revenue side, even when those projects are not yet ready to be executed.

According to the report, if a project is entered into the budget without completing minimum preparatory work, «it is condemned to drag out its execution beyond even the timeframe set by the fund financing it, potentially leading to the need to return that earmarked funding».

Administrative fragmentation and staff shortages

The document also found that inadequately planned projects take up to 72 months to reach the contracting stage, «in some cases due to the immaturity of the investment projects themselves, and in others because the managing centres lack stable, qualified contracting units». The Audiencia also points to a «large fragmentation of contract management units» and «very scarce human resources» in the Transición Ecológica area, which delays the preparation of environmental declarations.

Among its recommendations, the body proposes that projects should meet minimum requirements — approved technical designs, land availability, environmental declarations or preliminary studies — before they are budgeted for the first time, as well as an administrative reorganisation that would consolidate and specialise contracting units within a single, well-resourced management centre equipped with adequate staff and technology.