The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, has committed to introducing "as many technical improvements as necessary in the Zonzamas - Arrieta transport pipeline project (north line 1) as it passes through the center of Tahiche but not to paralyze works that guarantee a solution to more than 20 years of demand from the island's primary sector."
Corujo has responded in this way to two motions presented by the groups of the Popular Party and the Canarian Coalition in the First Island Institution requesting the paralysis of these works.
"They have presented two alternatives at the last minute with proposals as surprising as taking the pipeline through the mountain of Tahiche, which would mean starting a procedure to modify the classification of the land, which would imply a new delay of 2 or 3 years for a project that is two decades behind schedule, or channeling it along the main road, which is not a valid option for the technicians of this Institution. They also appeal to the importance of these streets when these roads do not even have sidewalks in many sections."
The president has "reproached" the opposition for having opted "for the policy of disinformation and for generating alarm among the population of Tahíche in the face of a non-existent threat." "For a politician without specific technical training to tell the residents that their houses are going to crack because a pipe is going to break is a tremendous irresponsibility."
Corujo has pointed out that "this debate also takes place in the Teguise City Council before the residents of Teguise", and wanted to remember that "the Mayor, Oswaldo Betancort, has not yet spoken out in this false debate because he favorably informed and gave his consent to a project that, obviously, has all the technical and legal arguments."
"Neglect and disinterest on the part of the City Council"
In this line, the spokesperson for the socialist group in the First Island Institution and, at the same time, in the Teguise Consistory, Marcos Bergaz, has recalled that "the neglect, disinterest and lack of attention to the requirements made to Betancort were fundamental for this project to remain paralyzed for more than three years in the City Council, when they could have given their authorization in just 3 or 4 months. It is outrageous that those who starred in this unjustified delay now want to present themselves as the saviors. This work, if it took time to start, was not due to the whim or will of the last island governments," Bergaz explained, "but due to the delay of the Teguise City Council, which took three years to do its homework. And when after more than a thousand days they did it, it took them less than four months to demand that the Consortium start the works," Bergaz slipped.
"If Betancort considers that there is a minimum risk for the residents of Tahiche, he only has to request a technical or legal report and paralyze the work, as his colleagues in this Plenary say. And while they criticize what is happening with this pipeline," Bergaz lamented, "Tahiche is still without sanitation after twelve years of government by Mr. Betancort."
Bergaz has announced that "the Cabildo does not have the powers to paralyze this pipeline because it is a work of the Government of the Canary Islands in which the Water Consortium, not the Cabildo, processed the obtaining of the relevant authorizations."
"And so much that they are concerned about the safety of the residents of Tahíche and their homes that last Friday a plenary session was held in Teguise and neither the Canarian Coalition nor the Popular Party presented any initiative in this regard," Bergaz concluded.
