Granollers closes 50-year water concession with 367,598 euros in favor of the municipality

The Granollers City Council has declared the extinction and approved the liquidation of the administrative concession for the municipal drinking water supply service, a contract awarded in 1971 that leaves a balance of 367,598.78 euros in favor of the council. The agreement, adopted by the Municipal Plenary, is published in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya (DOGC) no. 9738, of August 26, 2026, with the official reference CVE-DOGC-A-26194054-2026 and file 3/2026/286.

The concession for the “Municipal water supply service in Granollers, with water flow from the Ter river,” which included the construction of the distribution network and the operation of the supply, was awarded in a plenary session on July 29, 1971, to the company SOREA, Sociedad Regional de Abastecimiento de Aguas, currently Sociedad General de Aguas de Barcelona, SAU (AGBAR). The contract was formalized in a public deed before the notary of Granollers Francisco Longo Sanz on October 27, 1971, with a term of 50 years that expired on October 27, 2021.

A half-century concession with multiple modifications

Throughout the concession, the City Council and Sorea (AGBAR) agreed on several contractual modifications that reconfigured the service:

• On September 29, 1975, the Plenary assigned to SOREA the financing of the works for the capture, conduction, elevation, and storage of the Ter flow.
• By agreement on November 23, 1992, SOREA took charge of the financing of a new 8,000 m³ reservoir.
• On May 14, 1993, SOREA assumed the financing for the acquisition of land and rights to subrogate the City Council in the water exploitation of Roca Umbert, SA, for 35 million pesetas (210,354.24 euros).
• On July 31, 2012, an addendum was approved to maintain the concessional balance, with a new tariff structure and concessionaire remuneration of 10% to 14%.
• On March 27, 2018, a transactional agreement was signed which fixed the annual fee at 220,000 euros and increased tariffs by 2.63%.
• On April 27, 2021, the Plenary was informed of the succession of the contractor in favor of AGBAR.

Extensions and reversion of the service

Upon expiration, the Plenary approved a six-month extension on September 28, 2021, until April 27, 2022, and subsequently two continuity orders (March 29 and December 20, 2022) to guarantee the provision of an essential service. Finally, on February 28, 2023, the new concession contract, for 20 years, was awarded to the same AGBAR, formalized on March 30, 2023, such that the previous management ended on March 30, 2023, and the revertible assets were made available to the new awardee on March 31.

The settlement, reviewed by the consultancy PW Advisory & Capital Services (PWACS) and audited by Gabinete Técnico de Auditoría y Consultoría, SA, shows a balance in favor of the City Council of 367,598.78 euros, resulting from the difference between the following items:

• 17,934.78 euros in favor of the City Council for the proportional part of the fee for the second quarter of 2023.
• 387,712.39 euros in favor of the City Council for the annual quota at the amortization rate of revertible assets.
• 38,048.63 euros in favor of AGBAR for the excess of works executed against the annual contribution of 110,000 euros.

The agreement also authorizes the cancellation and return of the definitive guarantee of 200,000 pesetas (1,202.02 euros), deposited on January 14, 1970, in securities of the Banco Español de Crédito (now Banco Santander), and the guarantee of 14,694.74 euros established by the extension. The acceptance act of the revertible assets was signed in agreement on June 2, 2026, with retroactive effect to March 31, 2023.

A case of control over private water management

The settlement of the Granollers concession is a relevant case of reversion of an essential service and control of private water management, in which the council has verified compliance with the contract and recovered a favorable balance of more than 367,000 euros. For the residents, the agreement closes half a century of conceded management and consolidates the continuity of the service under a new concessional title, with the guarantee that the amortizations and fees passed on to the tariffs have been duly settled in favor of the municipality.

Fuente: Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya (DOGC), núm. 9738, 26 d’agost de 2026, secció Administració Local (referència oficial: CVE-DOGC-A-26194054-2026).