The mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Noda, advocated this Friday in his speech at the inaugural event of the expansion of the port of Playa Blanca for an institutional agreement between the Government of the Canary Islands, the Cabildo and the City Council that allows the docking of cruise ships in the new southern infrastructure, technically prepared to welcome the arrival of medium and small cruise ships, and he did so in front of the large governmental and business representation attending the event and the highest officials of the public administrations to whom he precisely demands consensus, the president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, and the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo.
Noda directly expressed his confidence and desire “that the same consensus between administrations that made the realization of this work possible that we inaugurate today, allows us to soon see here the docking of medium and small cruise ships: sell port, market port, a market opportunity for Yaiza and Lanzarote, which will make our towns, our local, island and archipelago economy profitable”.
The mayor of Yaiza is convinced that “the cruise passenger market will also stimulate new investments in road improvements, a public transport service network, accelerating the implementation of clean energy and tourism services in general. The challenges are necessary and we must assume them,” he added.
Although the mayor advocated for the docking of cruise ships, he also valued the identity of Playa Blanca and its seafaring tradition: “the Atlantic has been an essential source of subsistence and wealth creation; traditional fishing and the economy associated with it, as well as maritime connections with Fuerteventura have been and will continue to be key factors in the collective construction of our well-being.”
Quality leap
To remain competitive as a tourist destination and strengthen the economy, he added, “the municipality of Yaiza and the entire Lanzarote need infrastructures like this. We are taking a leap in quality from that port inaugurated on July 19, 1981, which cost 234 million pesetas, to this very large and renovated sustainable facility that has demanded an investment of more than 40 million euros, which we must make the most of.”
Óscar Noda said he felt “happy for my municipality of Yaiza and I am happy for my island of Lanzarore, because this port is a new highway to economic growth, we are now more competitive in the tourist and commercial sphere. Playa Blanca gains a first-rate port infrastructure that it has deserved for years and gets for its fishermen and for its neighbors a much more operational, safe, comfortable, accessible and much more sustainable facility.” The mayor invited to “focus on management, dialogue and understanding, which when it does not arrive, distracts and delays projects of common welfare.”
On behalf of the Historic City of Yaiza, the mayor concluded his speech “thanking Europe and the Canary Islands for the investment and execution of this project, the Canarian Ports entity for its commitment and attention to the demands of Yaiza, technicians, workers and operators for their work on land and sea, and to all the women and men who made it possible for us to celebrate today this work of the present, but above all of much future.”
