More than 100 private owners of Puerto Calero denounce what they consider an “institutional outrage” orchestrated by the Government of the Canary Islands in favor of the marina's concessionaire, Puerto Calero Marinas SL. According to the Owners Association, a legal provision introduced without public debate in the General Budgets of the Autonomous Community will allow the current concessionaire to recover ownership and control over assets legitimately sold during the last 40 years.
The modification, camouflaged as amendment 8, point 8, establishes that any transfer of rights made by the concessionaire during the term of the concession will automatically expire at the end of the original term, unless expressly agreed with the concessionaire itself. "This wording grants the concessionaire company the power to unilaterally decide on the future of rights acquired in a public deed, with the approval of the regional government," they explain.
In this sense, they state that "the chronology of events cannot make it clearer that it is a law tailored by the Government of the Canary Islands to favor Puerto Calero and other marinas on the islands":
- February 19, 2024: Puerto Calero Marinas SL requests in writing to Puertos de Canarias the extension to the concession
- September 4, 2024: The Owners Association appears as an interested party in the renewal file before Puertos de Canarias, requesting access to the file that is never granted
- December 28, 2024: The General Budgets of the Canary Islands are approved, which include Amendment 8.8 to prevent families and companies from benefiting from the extension
- June 12, 2024: Puertos de Canarias gives its approval to the renewal of Puerto Calero by Puerto Calero Marinas SL and puts the file to public display, which it has never given access to the Association
A law tailored "to favor private interests"
The Association denounces that this amendment allows the concessionaire to:
- Recover control over previously sold properties at no cost.
- Elude any direct investment commitment, since the burden would fall on the current owners, according to the economic report presented with the extension request.
- Resell or rent those same spaces to new buyers or tenants, achieving a multiplied profit at the expense of those who have already consolidated the marina.
Owners marginalized from the extension
Among those affected are 50 small businesses and families from Lanzarote who have commercial premises or moorings, and who employ around 300 workers; more than 200 owners of small moorings, and 26 families who have homes in the marina, many of them bought three decades ago. "They all see how the extension goes from an opportunity to expand rights and continuity, to being a threat and even a social aggression," they indicate.
And this extraordinary and exceptional extension of 35 years —to reach a total of 75— is being processed "without recognizing the acquired rights of the families and businessmen who have invested in the marina for decades." The Association has proposed a reasonable formula: that each owner contributes proportionally to the investment and fee of the extension. "The possibility of losing what they have bought during all these years could cause a social fire like Lanzarote has rarely seen," they warn.
The paradox of the “general interest”
The Association states that during the last 40 years, it has been the community of owners itself —restaurateurs, merchants, nautical operators and other professionals— who has sustained the success and real value of Puerto Calero. “We have been the ones who have maintained the aesthetics, the cleanliness, the environment, paid licenses, municipal taxes and generated direct and indirect employment. We have also contributed gastronomic value, boosted commerce, promoted nautical activities and sustained the leisure that gives life to the port."
In this sense, they indicate that "now, those who have given real value to the marina run the risk of being displaced under a legal reform approved without public debate and aimed at maximizing the profit of a single private operator." The Government of the Canary Islands appeals to the “general interest”, but nevertheless "the legal framework is modified to favor the particular interest, despising the majority: the companies, the workers, those who have given soul to the port."
Call for transparency and public debate
The Association of Owners of Marina Puerto Calero Yaiza demands that the Government of the Canary Islands rectify this measure, respect the rule of law and "enable a space for dialogue with all those affected." “We are not asking for privileges, we are asking for justice,” explain its representatives. “We want to contribute to the extension proportionally, not be stripped of our rights under a law drafted to favor a private company with the complicity of the institutions.”
The deadline for submitting allegations to the Puerto Calero concession renewal file ends on Saturday, but the Owners Association has formally requested Puertos de Canarias to extend it “given that the current deadline that ends on June 12 is insufficient and it is necessary to extend it to promote public debate.”