The PSOE of Lanzarote has denounced that the president of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort, continues increasing the tourist capacity.
The socialists reveal that the last Insular Government Council has approved the authorization of two new tourist complexes in Costa Teguise, which add up to 60 apartments and 120 accommodation places.
Specifically, the entity Villas Blancas Lanzarote S.L. has been granted the provisional authorization and classification of the project called “Basic and Execution Project for 27 apartments in Costa Teguise”, corresponding to a tourist establishment in extra-hotel modality, 4-star apartment typology, with 27 accommodation units and 54 beds, located at Hervideros street nº 8, in the municipality of Teguise.
Likewise, the entity Tagardina Inversiones S.L. has been authorized for the “Basic project for the construction of a 33-apartment tourist complex”, corresponding to a 3-star extra-hotel establishment, with 33 accommodation units and 66 beds, located at La Atalaya street nº 20, in Costa Teguise.
For the socialist spokesperson in the Cabildo, Ariagona González, these agreements confirm that “Betancort's discourse of limits does not exist beyond propaganda”. “While he talks about ‘not one more tourist, not one less tourist,’ he continues to authorize more tourist apartments. That is the reality”, she pointed out.
González has warned that these decisions are taking place in a particularly serious context for the island, marked by an unprecedented housing crisis and an uncontrolled growth of vacation rentals.
“They have renounced touristic containment”
“Lanzarote already exceeds 11,000 holiday homes and has experienced an increase of more than 100% in recent years, while thousands of families have serious difficulties accessing a home,” he/she stated.
In this regard, the socialist spokesperson has denounced that the governing group not only has not taken measures to stop this situation, but has voted against all the proposals put forward to set limits on the model.
“They have voted against the ecotax, they have rejected the tourist moratorium on repeated occasions and they have not promoted a single measure to contain growth. Not one,” he/she stressed.
For the PSOE, what happened in the last Governing Council is not an isolated event, but the direct consequence of a policy that continues to bet on increasing pressure on the island. “Every new authorization confirms the same thing: there is no will to change the model. Growth continues without limits while Lanzarote pays the consequences,” he added.
“When a president promises one thing and systematically does the opposite, we are not facing an error. We are facing a way of governing that no one believes anymore and that shows that CC has renounced tourist containment”, concluded Ariagona González.