PHOTOS: Sergio Betancort
Constant movement of trucks, excavators working on the land and facilities typical of a quarry. That is what can be seen for a long time on a plot located near the port of Los Mármoles, just on the other side of the Arrecife Ring Road, between Las Caletas and the road that goes towards Costa Teguise. However, as municipal sources have confirmed to La Voz, there is no license to support this activity. In fact, the current planning would not allow it to be authorized either.
After receiving complaints from several residents, La Voz has been able to verify that a crusher is even working on the site. In addition, there is a screening machine and other machinery, including backhoes digging into the ground. And all this, without having a permit or the possibility of obtaining it on that land.
The only thing that the City Council granted a few years ago was a permit for "stockpiling of materials" on that plot, while the Ring Road works were being carried out. The one who requested that permit was one of the companies of the Tiagua group, which worked as a subcontractor in that work.
With that permit, the company could store materials related to that work there, as long as the work lasted. However, the permit in no case authorized it to extract construction materials from that land or to use a crusher. In addition, to this is added that the works of the Ring Road ended eight months ago, but nevertheless the movement continues on that plot. Even, slopes are observed that seem to show that they are not only treating materials brought from other places, but that they are extracting them from that area.
They tried to "legalize" it without success
During the past year, this company would have even tried to "legalize" its activity on that land, requesting the territorial classification from the Arrecife City Council. However, this was denied, since in the current planning that land is classified as rustic for residual agricultural use.
In this type of land, only "exceptionally" the installation of "Specific Island General Systems, provided that this is justified from the island's general interest" can be authorized. That would include, for example, the construction of a road, and that is precisely why authorization was given for the stockpiling of materials during the Ring Road works, as it was a project of general interest. However, that permit has nothing to do with the activity that would be being carried out illegally now.
In the new General Plan of Arrecife that is intended to be approved, as well as in the basic adaptation that was approved in 2004, the classification of that land is modified, and it would become "undeveloped land, not sectorized, deferred", where an industrial activity could be authorized. However, until the new PIOT is approved, the activity will not be authorized, since the Island Plan that is still in force also contemplates that land as rustic agricultural, and that document hierarchically governs the municipal plans. Precisely for this reason, the City Council denied the territorial classification to the company.
Important contracts with the administration
The Tiagua Group is relatively young, since it was established in 2000, and began with "the provision of transport services, earthmoving, services with cranes and other lifting equipment", according to the company itself on its website. However, more recently it has been "expanding its field of action", with the "construction of large structures and civil works facilities, such as rainwater networks, foundations, construction of walls, sidewalks, to the most complex construction of buildings with facilities".
In recent years, especially through Transportes y Excavaciones Tiagua, this business group has been awarded different public works. For example, the Cabildo awarded it the bike lane at the entrance to Playa Blanca for 129,000 euros, as well as the repair works on the Arrieta dock and on the retaining wall of the Playa Quemada maritime avenue. In addition, the Cabildo also awarded this company, among other things, the installation of traffic lights to control the speed in the vicinity of the Mácher-La Asomada School. And within its varied range of activity, this company is also part of the UTE Lanzarote Selectiva, which was awarded the selective collection service for packaging waste, paper and cardboard in Lanzarote, for 4.2 million euros.
In addition to the contracts with the Cabildo, there are also the awards from Canal Gestión Lanzarote. For example, this company was commissioned to demolish the old pumping station on Portugal Street, in Arrecife. In addition, Canal Gestión has awarded this company, among others, the renovation and expansion works of the supply network of La Villa de Teguise, for more than one million euros, and the improvement works of drinking water supply to Famara, for almost 350,000 euros.
