The Haría Town Hall hosted this Thursday a meeting between the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, the vice president Jacobo Medina, among other councilors, and the municipal representatives of Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
In a historic meeting, Oswaldo Betancort fulfilled his commitment to start a round of periodic and itinerant meetings with all the municipal representatives of the island. On this occasion, the Mayors' Table was held at the Haría Town Hall, where the president was received by the mayor Alfredo Villalba to, later, follow the agenda planned by the Cabildo in accordance with the rest of the town halls: Arrecife, Teguise, Tías, Tinajo, San Bartolomé and Yaiza.
“Today we celebrate the Mayors' Table of Lanzarote and La Graciosa in the municipality of Haría, the first point in which we start the round of meetings for all the town halls and where for four hours we have taken good note of the proposals and priority issues of each municipality”, said Betancort, showing his personal commitment to carry out an island management based on “cohesion, consensus, coordination and common objectives”.
“I am convinced that together and committed, without taking into account political colors, we will make our municipalities and our islands of Lanzarote and La Graciosa more comfortable and competitive, and that we will be able to transmit it to society with high-mindedness”, he declared, thanking the Haría Town Hall and its mayor for their warm welcome, opening the doors of the northern consistory for this inaugural meeting.
“This initiative seeks to establish a continuous dialogue and address the specific demands of each municipality, and that is why the vice president and the councilors of the Cabildo accompany me to be able to solve and clarify the doubts or projects in each of their competences”, added Betancort.
For his part, the vice president and councilor of Public Works, Jacobo Medina, valued this meeting with the different municipal leaders to “review the investment made by the Cabildo of Lanzarote in the different municipalities through the Municipal Cooperation Plans”.
"We have our sights set on reactivating the island's economy through public works, either with our own funds or through the FDCAN, the Next Generation Funds or through the activation of the 2030 Urban Agenda or the Tourist Sustainability Plan. We are moving towards an improvement of the infrastructures, roads and facilities of all corners of Lanzarote and La Graciosa", Medina pointed out.
The agenda addressed a variety of crucial issues for the development of the island, such as island planning, on which the president expressed his commitment to seek land to improve infrastructure, accelerate the PIOL through Gesplan and present in a few days the Special Plan of La Geria to obtain the necessary agreement between those affected and agents involved.
In addition, during the table each municipality expressed its specific needs and requests in social and immigration matters, security, animal welfare, housing, infrastructure, inter-administrative cooperation, water, public transport and mobility, repair of rural roads, situation of the island's palm grove, waste management, irrigation project, recovery and renovation of the La Santa hostel, free water for professional farmers, school transport, among other issues such as the need to establish a coordinated calendar of events.
As the highest responsible for Tourism on the island, the president also urged all municipalities to include their attractions in the promotional calendar of the Sociedad de Promoción Exterior Turismo-Lanzarote, and offered his hand to optimize resources between public entities, requesting closer collaboration in sports, cultural and gastronomic events that arise from municipalism.
Finally, President Betancort concluded the meeting emphasizing "political neutrality in public affairs" and assured that the proposal of the canon of the Centers of Art, Culture and Tourism of Lanzarote will be discussed in an upcoming monographic meeting, emphasizing that “neither the Cabildo, nor the Centers nor the Integral Water Cycle, nor any other public issue should have political color for the future and the social and economic well-being of Lanzarote and La Graciosa”.
