It has been five years, since the Delta hit the island, without sand. And now, it has been discovered that the project for the recovery of Playa Flamingo, in Playa Blanca, only contemplated the repair of the dikes, but not the replacement of the sand, one of the main problems of this place. "It makes me laugh. Now there is no sand on the beach, which is the most important thing", lamented the spokesman for Asolan, Francisco Martínez, who described the situation as "surreal".
And it is that, in addition, the response of the Yaiza City Council has been to ask businessmen to advance the money to face the replacement of the sand as soon as possible. But although this proposal has been rejected by the hotel association, Asolan is considering another option. Specifically, a businessman has offered to assume the cost of the replacement, in exchange for being granted the exploitation of the beach during the next few years, since the contract with the company that managed this space has already ended.
In the event that this possibility does not prosper, the only possibility that Asolan contemplates is that the Yaiza City Council itself advances this money, and then claims it from the company that is awarded the management and maintenance of Playa Flamingo.
This was explained to La Voz by the president of Asolan, Susana Pérez, who did not want to give the name of that businessman. Now, she says that they are waiting for the Yaiza City Council to convene them for a meeting, where it will be decided whether or not to approve one of the two proposals. "We need tourists to finally enjoy the beach," says Pérez.
Failed announcement
And it is that, when it had already been announced that the works in Playa Flamingo would culminate in the second half of August, it is now known that the biggest of its problems has not been solved, and that it was not even contemplated in the project.
"The original only contemplated the replacement of the dikes," said this Wednesday the socialist councilor of Yaiza and former national deputy, Olivia Cedrés, despite the fact that her colleague and senator Marcos Hernández, had announced just a few weeks ago that the beach would be fully recovered this month of August.
Cedrés has defended her work and that of her party, assuring that in order to get Costas to assume this project "they had to do a lot of work". "The issue of sand replacement is being carried out by Costas throughout Lanzarote, but in Playa Flamingo, the project was for the dikes," said Cedrés, without clarifying why the sand replacement was left out of that project.
The City Council defends itself
The spokesman for Asolan, Francisco Armas, did not want to blame anyone for this situation, although he did say that "all administrations have failed". "The Yaiza City Council should have been more aggressive and incisive, it should have been the engine of this work, but not now, for four years," he denounced.
For its part, from the southern Consistory they do not want to talk about "responsibilities", although the mayor, Ángel Domínguez, assures that the project was carried out by the General Directorate of Coasts. In addition, he acknowledges that the current municipal corporation did not even know that the replacement of sand was not contemplated in the project of the central government.
