The Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing of the Government of the Canary Islands, Sebastián Franquis, has informed in the regional Parliament that his department is already processing the drafting of a project to create a new alternative road that connects Arrecife with the airport, leaving from Argana and bordering the industrial and commercial area of Playa Honda. Therefore, the regional Executive rejects the burying of the LZ-2 at the height of Playa Honda, a debate that was present and that some political parties defended as a solution to the traffic in the area.
Before an interpellation from the opposition on the possibility of burying the LZ-2 at the height of Playa Honda, Minister Franquis explained that the option of the variant "is the one that the Government's technicians have selected", in coordination with those of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, after analyzing a study of alternatives. “The first thing we did when we arrived at the Government was to commission a study of alternatives for that section, whose works ended in October 2020”, Franquis assured.
“Subsequently, a feasibility study was carried out on each of the seven alternatives that were being considered, including the burying of the aforementioned section of the LZ-2 in Playa Honda. However, at the beginning of this year, the technicians decided that the most viable project, technically and environmentally speaking, was not precisely to bury that part of the road, but to make an alternative road that surrounds the urban center of Playa Honda”, explains Franquis.
The Minister reiterated in Parliament that when the current legislature began, the Ministry "did not have any project for the burying of this road in Playa Honda" and that it is now "when solutions are being sought." “Faced with a demand from you and your parliamentary group that the works be carried out immediately, my answer is, that if I had had projects drafted and completed when I arrived at the Ministry to carry them out, those projects would already be underway. But you know that was not the case,” Franquis said in response to CC deputy Oswaldo Betancort.
“It is also convenient to point out that the burying of the LZ-2 road at the height of Playa Honda, as such a project, is not included in any of the actions contemplated in the 2018–2027 Road Agreement. What is included in the aforementioned agreement is the action called LZ-2. Section: Airport–Hospital–Argana Link, which does include an alternative road to the current one that crosses Playa Honda. For this reason, linked to that project, we have commissioned two technical studies that have been developed in the last two years to, based on these technical reports, make decisions and commission the projects. We are not carrying out initiatives on a whim, but based on reports and technical studies and in cooperation with the Cabildo of Lanzarote”, he added.
The regional Minister announced that, once all the technical procedures within the Ministry itself are completed, "the project of the new road will be sent to the Cabildo of Lanzarote", for its incorporation into the Island Planning Plan (PIO) of the island, since it is not currently included in the island's road planning. Franquis also pointed out that once included in the PIO of Lanzarote, "the process of contracting the drafting of the construction project and subsequently the works themselves would be launched".
"It would be, therefore, to execute a variant that surrounds Playa Honda, behind the commercial and industrial area, and that connects with the roads that lead to the airport and the south of the island without having to cross" Playa Honda, clarifies the Minister.
In addition, the Minister recalled that the Ministry is working on another action in the surroundings of the LZ-2 and Playa Honda, consisting of "the execution of a new underpass under said road", with the purpose of "expanding and improving road connections between the two banks of the road of regional interest that separates the urban center of Playa Honda from the industrial-commercial area located to the north of it".
The Ministry assures that it is "about" to tender said construction project, with a base bidding budget of 3,290,613 euros, so the works could begin during the summer of this year 2022.
