Antonio Hernández decrees the closure of Argana Centro

Early this Wednesday morning, the Councilor for Urban Planning of the Arrecife City Council, Antonio Hernández, signed a decree to close the controversial commercial area Argana Centro, which opened its doors last Friday without the mandatory first occupancy license. The Arrecife City Council did not grant the permit at the Governing Board on Friday morning, as planned, due to a series of irregularities in the premises of the center, which were detected by the municipal technicians.

The closure decree will be delivered throughout the morning to the owner of Argana Centro, Tiendas Especializadas de Canarias S.L., of the Spínola Group. "The normal thing would be for Argana Centro not to open on Thursday," Antonio Hernández told La Voz, but the councilor clarifies that the signed decree urging the closure "is a voluntary thing" for the owner of the shopping center. If Tiendas Especializadas S.L. finally does not comply with the request of the councilor and closes Argana Centro, Antonio Hernández announces other measures. "In that case, a sealing file would have to be opened" for the shopping center.

"The mayor's duty is to close it"

The Department of Urban Planning has finally taken action despite the fact that this same Tuesday, the mayor of Arrecife, Enrique Pérez Parrilla, declared to the media that the opening of a business without the first occupancy license was frequent and did not believe that the fact that Argana Centro opened its doors last Friday should lead to a closure decree by the City Council.

The Councilor for Urban Planning, Antonio Hernández, believes that "the duty of a mayor, if he is aware that there is an activity without a license, is to close it" and affirms that his decision to sign the closure decree comes from the "two complaints received in the Municipal Police" when the business opened to the public, two complaints that led him "to act because it is my duty", concludes Antonio Hernández.