The president of the Lanzarote Business Confederation (CEL), Juan de León, has expressed his satisfaction for the approval of the investment in the port of Los Mármoles, which was "widely demanded" by the island's businessmen. He has also positively valued that "the reticence" has been overcome throughout the process, in which politicians, businessmen and the Port Authority have maintained "a tough debate that has made it possible to understand the need for this investment".
In this sense, De León has highlighted that "merely partisan" approaches have been abandoned. "The politicians seemed to be more interested in belittling the participation of administrations of a different political persuasion, than in guaranteeing the full and effective investment of these resources and thus solving a historical endowment deficit", he questioned.
In that same sense, De León considers it "positive" that the Port Authority "breaks with its tradition" of executing "all" its main investments in Las Palmas, leaving aside ports such as Arrecife, and takes the lead in this action. The president of the Lanzarote Confederation of Businessmen has pointed out that this action "is endorsed and financed by Fomento and Europe", despite the fact that the Port Authority insists that the investment comes from its own funds.
Previous debate
De León is convinced that if "this previous debate, with a high level of demand from the Lanzarote society, where the business community has played its role, had not taken place, possibly today we would not be talking about this investment and yes about another unfulfilled promise by politicians and the Port Authority as has happened countless times".
Despite all this, the CEL has demanded "a greater specification of the investments" it wants for the island and a greater capacity for "consensus and demand to achieve them, so that the regional and state administrations "are convinced that it is not the same to execute or not the investments on this island".