Lanzarote En Pie has criticized the “carelessness” of the Arrecife City Council for not having presented allegations to the project to install a waste treatment plant “in the heart” of the capital, despite the fact that it was required up to twice by the Canary Islands Government to present them. In addition, it denounces that the Cabildo did not put any objection to this project either, which it describes as “madness.”
“This type of location is inconsistent with the concept of capital of the Biosphere Reserve and the values that are to be transmitted,” says the formation, which has already presented a motion in the City Council and has advanced its “outright opposition” to allowing the installation of that biomethanization plant.
“It is crazy to install a waste treatment plant in the heart of Arrecife due to the impact it would have, firstly, on the residents of the area, and then on the Salinas and the Castillo de San José, but also for the entry of tourists from cruises,” says the spokesperson for the LEP, Leticia Padilla.
In addition, she insists on denouncing the “usual carelessness” of the Arrecife government group, which during the environmental assessment process was required by the Vice-Ministry of Territorial Planning and Water of the Canary Islands Government up to twice –on December 2, 2020 and March 2, 2021– to make the corresponding allegations, without having given “any response”, as did the Cabildo itself.
“We fear that the authorization by the Canary Islands Government, which opens the possibility of giving the green light to the implementation of this type of economic activity, will put not only the environmental values, but also the heritage and landscape values of the area at risk,” warns the party.
For this reason, it has announced that they will request a plenary agreement “to transfer to the Canary Islands Government the outright opposition of the Arrecife City Council to the project presented by the company Tibanna Biometanización Gran Canaria for the installation of this biomethanization plant in the Port of Naos.”
“The responsibility that Santana does not assume”
Padilla has also lashed out against the secretary of Nueva Canarias in Arrecife and councilor of the capital government group, Armando Santana, for the statements he made this Monday on the subject. “From our political organization, we do not understand how it is possible that a plant of this type, located a few meters from the Castillo de San José, in a residential area and in one of the main entrances to the city, has authorization without anyone opposing it,” Armando Santana questioned in a statement.
In this regard, the spokesperson for Lanzarote en Pie reminds him that “he is part of the same municipal government group that has not responded to the communications from the Canary Islands Government or presented allegations against the project, as stated in the file for processing the license by the Vice-Ministry, who unsuccessfully summoned, up to twice, both the Arrecife City Council and the Cabildo de Lanzarote, to make allegations during the environmental assessment process.”
“In any case, we understand the lapse of the municipal deputy mayor because the political strategy of the government group since the beginning of the legislature has been to blame others for the ills of the city, without assuming any responsibility for municipal management and, in this matter, despite the evidence, they were not going to be less,” concludes the councilor.
