A resident affected by the roadworks in Tinajo demands that the Cabildo take over the construction of the walls of his property, which had to be demolished due to the works. And it is that, according to this man, the first island institution had promised to take over the works. A fact that they deny from the Cabildo, from where they affirm that they will only assume the cost of the work, but that the walls will have to be built by the owners.
Gonzalo Rodríguez, as this resident of Tinajo is called, has a farm near the Montaña de Timbayba, which has been affected by the roadworks in Tinajo. "They have expropriated three meters from me and they have not paid me yet," says this man.
However, his biggest problem does not lie there, but in the fact that the walls of his farm have been torn down and he will have to take over the work if he wants to rebuild again. Yes, from the new boundary of his farm, after the expropriation. "Where has it been seen that we have to be the ones to build them? I find it incredible," says Gonzalo Rodríguez indignantly, who also complains that they have "destroyed several vines".
His complaints have been collected by the mayor of Tinajo, Jesús Machín, who affirms that, in a meeting that took place before the start of the works with the then Minister of Public Works, Fabián Martín, he understood that "it would be the Cabildo who would be in charge of building the stone walls". "Now it seems that they are going to be paid the price of the walls, but that they have to do them themselves."
Machín promises that he will be aware of it. "The City Council is there to defend the residents above all else. Either they pay for them or they do them," he says.
The Cabildo denies it
For his part, the current Minister of Public Works, Sergio Machín, affirms that the Cabildo never promised to take over the construction work of the walls, but to pay for them and that, therefore, everything is due to "a misunderstanding".
"The land, the walls and the type of plantation have been valued for the residents. And that relationship for the expropriation includes whether they had walls and, therefore, that amount of money. The Cabildo agreed to pay for the walls, according to the type of wall they had. Only that in the summary that is sent to them, it only says so many meters, so much money, but that includes the entire structure that each farm could have," explains Sergio Machín. If we are already going to pay for it, how are we going to build it as well?" he adds.
Regarding the issue of the vines, Machín specifies that it must be taken into account that this land is already the property of the Cabildo. "We have expropriated land and that land is already ours, not the owner's. If we, for example, take four meters towards the farm, but then we only use one and decide to leave the vines, those vines are ours, not the property of the owner," he specifies.
Even so, the Minister of Public Works of the Cabildo assures that he will meet with those affected next week.
