The Arrecife City Council, presided over by Astrid Pérez, presented this Thursday, October 27, the works that will "transform" Manolo Millares Street, with which it will also solve the problems of rainwater in the area. These are interventions for which the City Council has allocated 921,940.25 euros and which have an execution period of 8 months.
Due to urban growth, and especially the lack of urban planning in terms of water, Manolo Millares Street usually experiences a collapse in the current networks and the flooding of streets and homes.
"There have been years of neglect by previous governments regarding rainwater works in the capital," says the mayor, who recalls that during the last three years works of this magnitude have been carried out, such as on El Greco Street and Alcántara Square, and that the same project is also being drafted for Tenderete Street.
For this reason, the Arrecife City Council is promoting the construction of an urban rainwater drainage network to solve these problems caused in Manolo Millares Street, an entrance to the city and a vital point for commerce, restaurants and the various economic activities that take place.
Therefore, "with this new urban rainwater drainage network, the drainage of water will be guaranteed, through new collection elements," says the mayor.
In this sense, the mayor of Arrecife recalls that "the rainwater works depend on the Water Consortium of the Cabildo of Lanzarote and that, given the lack of response from the Corporation to the projects presented, the capital's Consistory has decided to carry out the interventions with its own funds."
"We cannot wait for years for the Cabildo to carry out vital works for the citizens of Arrecife, so we decided to do it ourselves," adds the mayor.
Two-way street, widening of sidewalks and planting of trees
The mayor of Arrecife has explained that, in addition to the rainwater interventions in the area, the City Council will carry out works to transform Manolo Millares Street, giving a new urban image to the entrance of the city.
"Manolo Millares Street is in very poor condition, with unprotected supply pipes, deteriorated pavement that even has several layers, or extensions of sidewalks for the terraces of businesses," explains Astrid Pérez, who also guarantees that these interventions will eliminate architectural barriers, thus creating another single platform area as already exists in Valencia and El Greco streets.
Specifically, the road will continue to have three lanes, although two of them will be exit lanes and one will be an entrance lane, which will end at the intersection with Ildefonso Valls de la Torre Street, forcing vehicles to reach Fred Olsen Avenue.
"This will benefit vehicles entering the city, and also allows us to carry out the project to pedestrianize Fred Olsen Avenue, between Guenia and Ildefonso Valls de la Torre streets, without causing traffic chaos," explained Astrid Pérez.
In addition, the intervention includes the expansion of the sidewalks on both sides of the road, thus favoring the comfort of the municipality's pedestrians. On the other hand, the work also involves the planting of different trees that will be another example of the tree planting plan carried out by the capital's Consistory.
Finally, the transformation work on the street also includes the burying of telephone and electricity cables, so that all those that are currently visible will be underground, thus improving the safety of pedestrians.
"We arrived in 2019 with the aim of working for the city, carrying out works and improvements after years of neglect, and interventions like this demonstrate that we fulfill what we promise and that we can achieve a more accessible and modern capital," concludes the mayor.