The plenary session of the Teguise City Council approved this Wednesday a motion approving the "making available" of a 27,000 square meter plot, located next to the Beatriz hotel in Costa Teguise, for endowment use adapted for infrastructures. With this, the intention of the Consistory is that "any institution" and, specifically, the Government of the Canary Islands or the Cabildo of Lanzarote, and "any company that wants to apply", agree on a mixed investment for a future congress center project.
The proposal has passed only with the votes of the Canarian Coalition, which promoted the motion, while its partner, the Socialist Party, abstained. The Popular Party and the Party of Independents of Lanzarote have voted against. The PP had already publicly criticized this initiative of the mayor, whom he accused of "breaking the consensus" on this issue, since the Congress Palace has been planned in Arrecife for years. In fact, the project was even approved, although since then the Canarian Government has not provided funding.
On this issue, the Councilor for Urban Planning, Echedey Eugenio, has stated that with this initiative they do not intend to "generate rivalry" between one municipality and another. "It is about meeting a historical demand through a reality, which is the availability of land, and legal certainty for potential investors, such as the fact that Teguise finally has a General Planning Plan that allows economic development."
"Numerous demands from the sector"
The motion of the Canarian Coalition involves "considering said land as a suitable plot for the development of a Congress Palace infrastructure that accommodates the numerous demands of the sector on the island, given its location, situation, urban planning, connections and ownership defined as the most suitable for this purpose", they point out from the Consistory.
With this motion, the Government of the Canary Islands and the Island Council of Lanzarote are proposed to cede this plot for the execution of an infrastructure that complies, "not only with the tourist needs, but also for the growing population of the residential area (more than 8,000 residents), which demands infrastructures of this type that allow them to consume culture, training and leisure".
"Costa Teguise deserves the construction of an infrastructure that responds to the needs of the business community, the tourist market and citizens, in order to position itself among the best areas within the national tourist market", said the mayor of Teguise, Oswaldo Betancort.
"We cannot renounce a Congress Palace in Costa Teguise, taking into account the hotel capacity and the quality of our accommodation plant, and that is why we are betting on the municipality of Teguise being the one that houses a Congress Palace to attract convention tourism that, for example, on the island of Gran Canaria represents annual income of 58 million euros", added the mayor.
The City Council thus cedes the plot with the intention of promoting a project "that provides Costa Teguise with all the ingredients of a competitive tourist destination". Its intention is that this be achieved through public-private investment, with the collaboration of the island and regional government, through a mixed company.