The Councilor for Social Welfare of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Isabel Martín Tenorio, has rejected the attempt by Coalición Canaria to "distort reality and confuse public opinion" by trying to attribute responsibility for the delays in the Tahíche Senior Center file to the First Island Institution.
"The file has not been stopped at the Cabildo at any time. It has suffered delays due to the difficulties of the Teguise City Council in responding in a timely manner to requests for inter-administrative cooperation," she explained.
Martín emphasized that "it is common for the Teguise City Council", governed precisely by Coalición Canaria, "to excessively delay the response to requests for collaboration from the Cabildo, as has happened, among other cases, with the roundabout accessing the Costa Teguise recycling center".
"It is not the first time that the institution presided over by Oswaldo Betancort has caused delays in the execution of works of general interest. To the difficulties caused by the pandemic, which has generated delays in all administrations, is added the lack of resources of the city council, and the mayor has all my understanding in the face of these difficulties, but it is unacceptable for his organization to try to pass that responsibility on to the Cabildo," Martín stated.
The councilor recalled that the First Institution requested inter-administrative cooperation from the Teguise City Council on August 20, 2019, for the Basic Project and the Earthmoving and Fencing Project. "Given the lack of response from the City Council, it had to reiterate its request in May 2020, including in it the Transformation Center Project, having to wait until June 12 to receive the favorable report for the earthmoving, fencing, and transformation center, works that the Cabildo completed on April 7, 2021," she added.
"To execute that first action, we had to wait ten months for the response from the City Council presided over by Oswaldo Betancort, and now his party intends to hold the Cabildo responsible for the delays," the councilor questions.
Regarding the authorization of the Basic Project, Martín reported that it was sent on August 14, 2020, after the modifications requested by the city council, being authorized four months later, on December 16, 2020. "The alleged delays denounced by Coalición Canaria are not, therefore, the responsibility of this Institution, as the projects have been dormant in Teguise for fourteen months," she concluded.
The councilor regretted, on the other hand, that the nationalists "have rushed to find culprits for alleged delays instead of celebrating the launch of an initiative that will generate benefits for the entire society of the island".
Isabel Martín has guaranteed, finally, that the Cabildo of Lanzarote will continue "working and putting everything within its reach to accelerate the execution of this and all the projects that are considered appropriate to improve the well-being of the population".
