A.A.
- You have fully returned to work, haven't you?
- Yes, I have been back since last week and feeling hotter than in summer, like all the citizens of the Island, I suppose.
- One of the issues that has been most talked about in recent times and that has continued to be talked about this summer is the solution to the problems of the Fermina and Francés islets. Honestly, when do you think we will see the definitive solution to an issue that has become more than noticeably entrenched?
- In the new political year, as the month of September is called, we have to consider two fundamental objectives: one is what concerns land management, which is being coordinated through meetings in which a check is made of everything that has to do with this issue, and the other is the analysis of the errors that have to do with the dumping of a document that historically already had defects. This is what will define the municipality of Arrecife from a territorial point of view. Why do I say this? Very simple, because the solution of the Islote del Francés has to be linked to listening to all the social agents that are integrated in the Monitoring Commission of the General Plan. I know that the Councilor for Urban Planning has read all the minutes this summer and is going to make a summary, transferring all the requests in a proposal that will be sent to the drafting team. The Islote del Francés is a private property, and any action that is taken there has to be carried out by the City Council with the instruments that the law gives it, which are very powerful from the point of view of land management, to which must be added the agreement with the owners, because there are several expropriation files that are requested from us. As far as the Islote de la Fermina is concerned, it must be said that the new Minister of Tourism, Manolo Fajardo, seems to be very clear that he is going to recover the project that César Manrique had in mind, for which he has already contacted the engineers who worked in that era close to the figure of César to try to make a recovery intervention as soft as possible, so that it becomes an area of daytime and nighttime leisure for the use and enjoyment of the citizens of Arrecife. We have two approaches, the issue that has to do with territorial planning, on which there is an atmosphere of serenity in which it can be discussed, and the issue that has to do with monitoring all the problems of Arrecife and making an approach to see what solutions we are going to give. We are going to make a work program that has to do with the monitoring of our obligations: cleaning maintenance, gardening maintenance, infrastructure works in the Social Dynamization Plan and a series of interventions that have to do with the improvements of the infrastructures of Arrecife. We are going to carry out a campaign to clean and improve plots, maintain gardening, an action program with an urban adaptation plan in different neighborhoods, socio-cultural centers, sports courts... These are the actions that fulfill our commitment to the legislature. We are more or less at the equator of the legislature and we want to have more or less our objectives fulfilled.
- The municipal opposition has started the political year with enthusiasm. In fact, they have accused you of hiding large real estate projects behind the PEPA. The PNL, for example, has accused you of favoring real estate assets on the coast. Is this really the case?
- First of all, what I would like to say is that I deeply regret that a document such as the PEPA, which was given to all political groups and to those who have requested it long before its publication, is being used as it is by some members of the opposition. What are the contributions they make apart from their criticisms, what improvements does the PNL contribute to change the Plan? If the PNL also sees a real estate interest behind the PEPA, what they have to do is report it. Since Pedro de Armas is involved in business all day, he thinks we are all the same. I do not move in that area, because my area is none other than politics and the defense of the general interests. What he is waiting for is that this proposal that has been brought by the drafting team of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, which has been hired by the Port Authority because the law requires it, does not go anywhere, when the normal thing is that proposals come out of here. The question that comes out here is: do we want a cruise ship dock for Arrecife leaving the Los Mármoles breakwater towards the Islote del Francés? It seems so, because that is solved with the Plan; do we want the Naos dock to be recovered and become the most promising marina on the Island, do we want to have a cruise station, do we want to reorganize the area to have leisure, culture, commercial spaces? On that document, which only indicates the occupations and the destinations that each of the plots that are within the public domain have, it is necessary to present allegations in positive. The unfounded criticism is a pity, that after a summer of reflection they come to say that if I hid the document, that if I hid it from the citizens... I have done what corresponds to me by law and what is within the scope of my competence. If the law says that the initial approval is done by decree of the Mayor's Office, that is what is done. The period of public exposure of the PEPA was extended to the month of September because we understood that the month of August was not valid, although for working it is not. To consult the document, to see it at home through the website, it is not. What we need is nothing more than positive answers. Enough is enough of the dynamics that has been generated in the island of Lanzarote in general and in the municipality of Arrecife in particular, the dynamics by which constant criticisms are made linked to alleged land speculation. The document is there, and whoever does not like it has to say exactly what he does not like, say what you would do, because you presented yourself as a candidate heading a list of CC with a government program, a program in which it was to approve the Special Plan and order the coast of Arrecife, say what you want to improve. What I do say to all citizens is that while I am in the City Council of Arrecife I am going to defend to the death that the port is ordered, that we have a cruise ship dock, that the Los Mármoles dock is protected from the southern storms and that we can make a sports dock in the Naos area, turning the Charco area into an area of expansion and leisure. We complain a lot about the concentration and the noise of José Antonio Street, when we have taken measures so that the premises are perfectly conditioned. It is true that there is a lot of mess in the street at the time of departure, and the rest of the neighbors is sometimes not as it should be. There we have the solution. That is the proposal that we make. The transfer of the Casino, the transfer of Democracy, is planned, so that we can regenerate our nautical-fishing sports activity, recover our wonderful marina. By the way, the south face of the Islote del Francés towards the Gran Hotel does not intervene; we have already said that we are going to protect that port-city area, because there is an area with enormous value both in flora and marine fauna. We have also told the Government that if it is going to make a Site of Scientific Interest, it should relimit it towards that area. Therefore, empty criticisms to continue with the contamination, making it seem that we are all bad, are of little use, because people want solutions to their problems, positive proposals and alternatives.
- They have also been accused of that the PEPA is not in the hands of the City Council but in the hands of the Port Authority of Las Palmas, which will be the one that will finally make the decisions. What do you have to say about that?
- That is also false, it is a reading that comes from people who perhaps have not had enough capacity to understand what the agreement that was approved a little more than a year ago in the City Council means, an agreement in which the City Council simply agreed with Ports that the processing of the document would be done by the Port Authority, that is, the administrative procedure. We approve the document in all instances, and it is the Corporation of Arrecife that, once the allegations presented have been heard, will determine which is the document that we are going to take for its final approval.
- What is still true is that there is a division of opinions regarding the time of public exposure. There are many people who think it is too little. Do you think that in these two months allegations can be presented to something as complex as the PEPA?
- I think that September is an operative month for all purposes, and I sincerely believe that the document can be analyzed perfectly in this time if there is a will to do so and to work in a positive way. Now, if what is also intended is to delay the PEPA so that it is not approved, one can be several years analyzing the whole issue. I think there is enough time to analyze it and to present suggestions. All the engineers are already in Ports for any type of consultation that you want to make.
- Does the City Council also have that technical service?
- No, in the Port Authority. In Arrecife we also have it but of another type, in such a way that people are attended to and they are answered of what they want to be answered, even delivering copies on CD of the document.
- This week you said on Radio Lanzarote that the jury of the Arrecife Puerto-Ciudad contest was going to meet on Friday. Has there been any change in the agenda, is that meeting still on?
- Yes, there was already a previous meeting in the month of vacation and now comes the second one. What was done in that previous meeting was to open all the documentation, to verify that it was correct, that the nine projects presented were with their corresponding models. It is very interesting to see the nine options that have been presented to the contest to transform the coast, from the ones that intervene and build the most to the ones that are softer. Once we have the ideas more or less clear, we will carry out the project that we have in mind and that consists of exposing those nine models in Arrecife. In principle we had chosen the upper part of the Sociedad Democracia, where there is enough space. On the 9th we will continue with the phase and then we will analyze the technical and legal issues, we will see if they comply with the different state, regional and municipal regulations, to then issue our opinion on the winning model.
- With respect to the Port Infrastructure Plan, it seems that an investment of more than one hundred million euros has been contemplated for the port area of Arrecife. Isn't it time that we stop talking about planned investments and see investments made?
- We have a thorn in our side with some plans, especially with the Tourist Infrastructure Plan, so that the works of San Francisco Javier are resolved before the contract between the two parties is terminated. I am waiting to give it a margin in the month of September to see if in October we are able to award the works and finish them. The neighbors of San Francisco Javier have had all the patience in the world to endure the deterioration of the works of the Tourist Infrastructure Plan, and I hope they are aware that they are major problems that sometimes escape the power of the City Council. It is even necessary to go to judicial procedures to terminate contracts. The remodeling of the square of the Church of San Ginés will also be put out to tender, which was for the purpose of the pavement so that the idea that César Manrique had is respected. In addition to respecting the idea that César Manrique had for the square of the Church of San Ginés, we want to recover the cistern to make an art gallery. It is a very endearing environment, and the Ministry of Tourism has already committed to send it to contract through the urgent route. It is true that we are tired of hearing about the amounts of money that are going to be allocated, and many times it happens that either we do not have the capacity to spend it or we do not have the projects. In Arrecife we have so many needs that it is easy to fit the projects.
- Why, for example, has the construction of the cruise ship dock not started, why in Fuerteventura have they already started the works and not here when more ships dock here?
- Fuerteventura is almost a year ahead of Arrecife. We are the last ones because every time we try to do something someone comes out talking about land speculation and speculation. The political class of Lanzarote should agree to carry out the issues of general interest, and this certainly is. What cannot be said is to contaminate and contaminate every time one of these issues is tried to be carried out. In Fuerteventura they have already contracted the first phase of their work, and we at the moment have the impact reports already sent to the different bodies, and the idea we have is that next year it will be contracted, although it costs a lot to adjust the European funds, that Ports approve everything... As we already have the formulated and sent Master Plan, we are waiting to have an appointment with the director of State Ports to see if we are able to boost this. We trust that throughout the next year we will have everything tied up, so that if the work starts it does not stop. Things are now started and finished. Then we have the great challenge in Arrecife, which are three very important projects that throughout the next year have to be put into operation, which are the operation of the municipal swimming pool, which will be finished by February or March, the commissioning of the municipal pavilion and the municipal nursery. The work that I have set myself is to see the different forms of management, I have planned to visit some town halls that have infrastructures of this type. It is very important to do things well, that we can control everything. These sports facilities have meant a tremendous economic effort for Arrecife.
- These days Alternativa denounced that there are so many works in Arrecife, so many houses are being built, that the General Plan may be being mortally wounded. Is that so?
- In Arrecife it is happening that it is being built in the urban plots, many empty spaces that we had in the city are being filled. It is true that sometimes we had large plots in which we had planned to make a partial plan to urbanize, but what the City Council has intended in general terms with the General Plan is to make urbanizations like the one in San Francisco Javier. What we intend is that the owner of the land urbanize, put all the services, put the gardens, the water, the light and give us ten percent of the net plot and what corresponds to us by law to make a nursery, a primary school, a civic center... That is urbanism, which is not what is happening for example in the neighborhood of Argana, where a gentleman, a certain owner of a well-known family, agreed with the politician on duty, traced the lines of the streets as he pleased and began to sell plots. The City Council has had to urbanize, put water, put light, put sewerage... That is what cannot be, that those who have the land are enriched and that the public institutions put the services. One of the most important things we wanted to do with the General Plan is this.
- An bitter debate has also been opened on the installation of large surfaces. For the moment we know that the Swedish firm Ikea is already building its establishment. Are there other large firms that want to settle in the capital, is this issue being controlled?
- No one can imagine the amount of important companies that come to the City Council of Arrecife with the intention of settling, companies that would even be willing to make the Congress Palace or to put the equipment of the university campus. The opportunities that we sometimes lose are incredible. My only interest is that Arrecife becomes a great capital, that it is able to overcome its major problems of infrastructure and equipment that we have, which are many. As a consumer I am a defender of diversifying trade, increasing competitiveness so that the oligopolies that exist on the Island are not the ones that manage the prices of vegetables, furniture or clothing. I am a defender of balancing the market, and that the surfaces adapt to the population. There is a market study already done with Ikea, for example, and they also have Fuerteventura. We had to move heaven and earth.
- What happens with El Corte Inglés?
- I have heard it in many gatherings, but sincerely I have never had any contact or conversation with them. Mercadona is going to be installed, which is a very good brand that already operates in Tenerife, and I suppose others more...
