The Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing of the Government of the Canary Islands, Sebastián Franquis, announced this Monday in the Parliament of the Canary Islands that the expansion works of the port of Playa Blanca are progressing at an “optimal” rate and 90% has already been executed, so "the forecasts to finish it in the next month of November will be met." The counselor also recalled that this work, which is carried out with an investment of 40.3 million euros from mostly Feder funds, "was planned without considering its future use as a cruise port, something that the expansion that is currently being carried out would allow."
However, compared to the claim made by the Lanzarote deputy of CC Oswaldo Betancort, Franquis stressed that it is not yet clear that this will be its use. “From the beginning of its planning, the expansion of the port of Playa Blanca was not planned for cruise ships to operate, but said expansion would already allow medium-sized cruise ships of just over 200 meters in length to operate. But if in a near scenario it is proposed that cruise ships can operate, we will only do so with the consensus of the Cabildo de Lanzarote. And that is the position of the Government,” he said.
During an appearance in response to questions from CC in Parliament, the regional councilor stated that the Ministry has followed the planning that the previous Government had planned for the Playa Blanca project, which launched the works in 2017, a planning that foresaw expanding the outer dock but that, in principle, did not foresee the possibility of hosting cruises.
“Around the use of the port of Playa Blanca there has been a debate in the conejera society in recent years about whether or not its inclusion in cruise routes was viable, even some economic sectors of the island were openly against it,” said the regional councilor.
