The Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing of the Government of the Canary Islands, Sebastián Franquis, announced this Tuesday that the regional Executive will request the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda to terminate the current agreement between the State, the regional Executive and the Arrecife City Council for the execution of the Urban Renovation and Regeneration Area (ARRU) of the neighborhoods of Titerroy and Valterra, since it has not been implemented despite having funding for more than a decade and having several extensions for its execution.
Minister Franquis, who met in Titerroy, together with the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, with the affected residents, stated that from now on both administrations will work together with the Arrecife City Council on new actions to undertake a real and effective rehabilitation of the affected homes.
“We are seriously considering with the Ministry of Transport and Urban Agenda to denounce the agreement and start a new stage”, explained Minister Franquis, “the great commitment above all is that the administration, both the Cabildo, the City Council and the Government of the Canary Islands, assume that this new stage must be faced, face it with all the consequences so that what has happened with the management of this agreement does not happen again, which, unfortunately, more than ten years later has not been implemented and not a single of the affected homes has been rehabilitated, so it is the residents who are suffering the consequences of that management”.
The regional minister, who went to the headquarters of the Titerroy neighborhood association after committing to its president in July to explain the situation in person to those affected, added that the Canarian Housing Institute (ICAVI) is also processing a minor tender to prepare an expert report on the real state of the houses in both neighborhoods of Arrecife included in the ARRU. “We have committed to the residents that we are going to carry out an expert assessment of the current situation of the homes, to see if they really require a rehabilitation action or a complete replacement of the homes is necessary, and from there start taking measures together with the Cabildo and other administrations”, said Franquis.
Both Minister Franquis and the president of the Cabildo, Dolores Corujo, also committed to the residents of Titerroy to find formulas that allow residents who had to be evicted years ago due to the poor condition of their homes, to help them pay the rents they face for living outside their homes.
