The mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Noda, held a meeting with the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, at the Parliament headquarters before Wednesday's plenary session in Tenerife, convened for the debate on the Regional Budget. The southern leader conveyed Yaiza's priorities to the head of the regional Executive, demanding investments in housing, health, education, and roads, although he also addressed pending projects in sanitation and infrastructure such as the Playa Blanca Family Respite Center and the new Library planned in the same town, advocating for co-financing formulas.
Óscar Noda, who thanks Fernando Clavijo for his interest in listening to Yaiza's demands, maintains that "in the meeting I also expressed my disagreement with the distribution of Canary Islands Development Fund (FDCAN) money. If one thing is clear to me, it is that Yaiza, like Mogán or San Mateo have done, can negotiate directly with the Government for the 2026 FDCAN, and thus try to correct the distribution made by the Cabildo of Lanzarote. It is feasible and we will study it".
Regarding housing, Óscar Noda recalled the commitment of the Canary Islands with Playa Blanca for the construction of 136 homes intended for affordable rent on land ceded by the City Council. With all administrative procedures completed, the plan was to tender the works last June, and the execution of the project, which amounts to around 50 million euros, has still not been put out to tender."Aside from this commitment, we proposed to the president the purchase of 76 privately developed protected homes already built in the Los Ajaches development in Playa Blanca and 96 more homes from the fourth phase of the same development. The president assured us that they will buy the 76 homes from the third phase. We were pioneers in Lanzarote in putting this formula into practice, and the proof is that the Government, together with the Cabildo, were able to buy the first 42 houses in Los Ajaches. Obviously, they still need to be handed over, and that is another pending duty of the island's First Corporation."
In the first part of the meeting, the Canarian president was accompanied by the Minister of Health, Esther Monzón, to discuss the project for the expansion of the Playa Blanca health center. Óscar Noda explains that "we have already ceded the plot adjacent to the current building and rectified the points that were requested of us. We now expect the Government to review the documentation and proceed with the drafting of the project, which has 100,000 euros allocated in the 2026 Budget".
To avoid future discrepancies regarding the transfer of municipal land for the execution of projects in any area of regional competence, Yaiza proposes a technical-political commission made up of representatives from both administrations to resolve any obstacles and expedite projects.
In Education, Yaiza already has the planning with the Canary Islands advanced for new educational facilities for the municipality, be it the expansion of the CEO Montaña Roja or the CEIP Uga, which needs a school canteen, and the construction of a new educational center in Playa Blanca which, according to the analysis of the Ministry of Education, should be a kindergarten and primary school and convert the current one to another level of education. However, the City Council and the educational community are not satisfied with the current plan to provide shade for the schools in Playa Blanca and Yaiza. "The investment must be directed towards covering the central courts of both centers so that they are multipurpose spaces for the future, as demanded by the AMPAs. We are talking about an investment that exceeds 600,000 euros per school."
Another aspect of utmost concern for Yaiza is the sanitation infrastructure. The Canary Islands Budget includes an allocation of one million euros for the Playa Blanca Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is currently overloaded in its treatment capacity. The total investment exceeds 9 million euros, therefore, Yaiza wants to secure a multi-year allocation that also includes the modernization of the Marcastell pumping station. The City Council is in favor of changing its location if technical conditions allow. "Sanitation is another of Lanzarote's major pending issues, and I have already proposed a master plan to the Cabildo to plan all initiatives related to the optimization of the integral water cycle," adds the mayor.
Óscar Noda also argued to Fernando Clavijo the need to address the construction of the Playa Blanca Family Respite Center immediately: "the project is in the drafting phase and costs 3.5 million euros." On the other hand, the construction of the new Playa Blanca Library has 500,000 euros pending extension, "but they are insufficient to satisfy the ambitious and forward-looking municipal project. We have the final project and the investment reaches 3 million euros."
The duplication of the LZ2 road between Yaiza and Playa Blanca was already discussed at the beginning of the year with the Ministry of Public Works, headed by Pablo Rodríguez. “Fernando Clavijo guarantees us the inclusion of the preliminary studies and project drafting in the new Canary Islands Road Plan”.
On the other hand, the mayor spoke about the deficiencies in transportation: “if Tías and San Bartolomé have buses that interconnect their towns, why can’t we have them? It’s a matter of island competence, but I made our position clear to Canarias, just as I made clear the lack of interest in executing a solution to the sinkhole on the Los Hervideros road and the undergrounding of power lines to banish the visual impact of the pylons in our municipality,” concludes Óscar Noda.
