The Minister of Public Works of the Cabildo, Jacobo Medina, blames Costas for the delay in the works on the Los Hervideros road, which he says "could have been completed in three months." In addition, he warns that the only intervention that they have been allowed to carry out, after Costas stopped the first project, will only be "a patch".
Initially, after the collapse of a section of the road, the Cabildo declared the emergency of the works and proposed an intervention that included placing "concrete blocks near the coast, covered with stone, that would prevent the waves from continuing to break the road." According to the Minister, they had the relevant reports from both the Intervention and the Secretariat, but "Costas came and ordered the work to be stopped."
The reason was that it did not authorize the intervention in the public maritime domain, which is under its competence, so the project had to be rejected and the installation of these structures closer to the sea had to be abandoned. "Concrete bollards will be placed next to the road, which will allow it to be maintained and prevent it from falling," explains Medina, who considers that this will only be a "short-term" solution.
"Costas' impediment to the execution of the work has forced the Cabildo to spend money to put a patch on it," questions the Minister, who believes that "in six or seven months" something similar will have to be done again. In addition, he warns that "the sea is eating away at the road at different points along the Los Hervideros section," and that this road "is going to disappear."
The Minister also emphasizes how much this has delayed the intervention, because the drafting of a new project had to be put out to tender, and also this time it has not been possible to resort to the emergency route, since that can only be done in the 30 days after the accident. This time they have resorted to the urgent route, which also shortens the deadlines, but to a lesser extent. "I hope that the work will be awarded in the first quarter of 2022," says the Minister.
"The mayor knew the situation from minute one"
Regarding the criticisms he has received from the mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Noda, among other things for the delay in this intervention, Jacobo Medina assures that "he has always had a good relationship with him" and that "two do not fight if one does not want to," maintaining that it has been the mayor "who has changed his attitude." "I am not going to lower myself one centimeter to argue with a mayor, who has to be up to the task," he added.
In addition, he assures that Noda knew "from minute one" the situation of the Los Hervideros road, and comments that it is necessary to "have more cordiality." "I have been explaining in detail what has happened with the Los Hervideros road, even knowing that it is a problem of Costas," says Medina, who defends that "the Cabildo is doing a very good job in the municipality of Yaiza."
Medina believes that the mayor of Yaiza "tries to cover up the mismanagement with confrontations with a Minister," and assures that the current government of the Cabildo "is the one that has invested the most in the municipality of Yaiza, with more than 11 million euros."
