The Board of Directors of the Port Authority, which was canceled this Monday by the president of the entity José Manuel Arnáiz, was to discuss, among other issues, two issues that are directly related to Lanzarote. One is the possible authorization to a private firm for the docking of a ship in the old commercial dock of Arrecife for alleged museum purposes and the other is the controversial administrative concession made by the Authority for the installation of a crane in Los Mármoles.
Although the press office of the Authority took pains to say that behind the suspension of the Council "there is no story", apparently Arnáiz's decision corresponds to his imminent dismissal by the Canary Islands Government Council at the meeting that will take place today, after this weekend CC and PSC-PSOE signed an agreement on port matters that entails, without being recorded in writing, the departure of the Cantabrian engineer from the management of the ports of the eastern province.
Lack of respect
Regarding the replacement in the presidency of the Port Authority, the island secretary of the Lanzarote socialists, Manuel Fajardo, believes that it is a lack of respect that his party agrees with CC on the name of the new president of the Authority without consulting the councils of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. "We are also part of the province of Las Palmas," he stressed.
Despite the suspension of the Council, María Isabel Déniz, mayor of Arrecife and member of the Board of Directors of the Port Authority, said on the radio program Buenos Días Lanzarote that she will not approve the museum ship in the old commercial dock because a "such a sensitive area could deteriorate and become a place for drinks". The capital's City Council offers in exchange the area of the Naos esplanade and, according to Déniz, "the City Council would have no problem accepting it there".
Immediate appeal
However, the vote of the mayor and that of Manuel Fajardo Palarea, vice president of the Cabildo and also member of the Board of Directors, are not enough to block the concession, and therefore it will be necessary for the majority of the Council to share the criteria of the Lanzarote representatives so as not to see the emblematic dock turned into a bustling area.
The mayor thinks that if the same criteria of the Board of Directors continue to prevail, in the sense that if a municipality opposes a project whose decision depends on the Authority, it complies with the opinion of the City Council, there is no need to fear the possible processing of the concession. "We hope that things do not change, but if the agreement is reached, we will begin to appeal the administrative act immediately," said Déniz.
You can't let your guard down
For his part, the spokesperson for Citizen Alternative in the Arrecife City Council, Andrés Barreto, who was the first to raise the alarm about the danger that was looming over the dock by wanting to turn it into a "beach bar", pointed out that the concession could "sneak" into the heart of the Port Authority Council, especially because it seems curious that a similar concession for the port of Las Palmas is not even considered on the agenda, while the one for the Arrecife dock is planned.
Barreto assured that Déniz and Fajardo have sufficient authority to banish the thorny point from the Council's agenda and stressed that he would not even like to think that, in the event of a possible approval of the concession, the excuse would come to light that the criterion of the majority was imposed. "We want it to disappear from the agenda, just as the Gran Canaria concession disappeared," said the opposition councilor, who recalled that the museum project has almost nothing, since the greatest income is expected from food and beverages.
Question about the crane concession
The mayor of Arrecife has prepared a question for the Council, which in any case she will present when the next meeting of its members is held, regarding the controversial concession made by the Authority for the installation of a crane in Los Mármoles.
Déniz will ask about the tender award process in view of the complaints made by one of the participating companies to which the installation of the crane was initially awarded, but which the Port Authority, after many objections, finally granted to another company that, according to the complaints of "the losers" of the tender, did not have sufficient merits to win the public call. The mayor understands that the guarantees of the company that was declared the winner in the first instance could have been violated.
"I will take the entire file to the Council and I hope that the secretary will know how to answer me," she added.
