The Minister of Public Works, Transport and Housing of the Government of the Canary Islands, Sebastián Franquis, reported this Tuesday in the regional Parliament that his department has already started drafting the projects for three road works in Lanzarote that will involve an approximate investment of 65 million euros "from the year 2022, after nine years without the Government tendering any road infrastructure work on the island." “We announced six months ago that we would draft the projects this year and then put the execution of the works out to tender in the second part of this term, and that announcement is now a reality, since the technicians are already working on drafting those projects,” Councilor Franquis replied to questions from the opposition in the plenary session in the regional Chamber.
“As we reported in this parliamentary headquarters at the end of last year, we have made an effort in this first semester of the 2021 financial year to contract the essential road infrastructure projects to improve mobility, connectivity and road safety on the island of Lanzarote,” said Councilor Franquis. "We must remember that, regarding the preparation of road construction projects of regional interest on the island of Lanzarote, no contract had been signed in the period 2012-2019 and in the first year and a half of this legislature we have already tendered and awarded the drafting of three projects,” he stressed.
These projects that the regional counselor named are those of Conditioning of the LZ-1 between Guatiza and Órzola, the remodeling of the connection between the LZ-2 and LZ-3 and the duplication of the LZ-40 between the island's Airport and Puerto del Carmen. The three actions are currently in the drafting phase of the construction project, a process that will last until the end of this year and in which the Ministry has already invested 696,848 euros to hire the teams that are drafting the planning of the work to be carried out.
Councilor Franquis reported that his department estimates to tender the execution of these works "during the year 2022". "These are three important interventions on the roads of Lanzarote, as is evident in the approximate budgets handled by the technicians of the Ministry for each of the projects, from the 10 million euros that the works of the new connection between the LZ-2 and the Arrecife ring road (LZ-3) are estimated to cost, the 15 million for the Conditioning of the section between Guatiza and Órzola; and the 40 million for the duplication of the LZ-40", they explain from the Ministry.
Three interventions
Regarding the construction work for the improvement and conditioning of the LZ-1 in the Guatiza-Órzola section, they point out that it "will correct all the obvious deficiencies due to the time elapsed since its construction, mainly in terms of road safety, drainage and also in terms of improving the existing pavement, with the need to improve its surface regularity." In addition, they add that "following the Ministry's commitment to sustainable mobility, the work will include the creation of a bike lane that runs parallel to the current road."
The remodeling of the connection link between the LZ-3 (ring road) and the LZ-2 will allow the construction of a "high capacity" link between the aforementioned roads of regional interest, within the municipal district of Arrecife, in order to improve the mobility and safety of the users of these roads.
Finally, the duplication of the LZ-40, or Carretera de Las Playas, between the Lanzarote airport and the town of Puerto del Carmen, "will allow the expansion of the current road, which was built in 1989 and only one of the two roads initially planned by the planning was executed, with a new road parallel to the existing one that provides sufficient accessibility to the tourist area and, at the same time, allows maintaining the capacity and safety of the road with adequate access control."
In addition, Franquis recalled that the Ministry "has subsidized during this year the execution of several works on the roads of Lanzarote for a global value of 3.1 million euros that the Cabildo is executing at this time."
Also, added the counselor, it is expected to tender shortly the execution of a new roundabout in La Calderina, on the LZ-2 as it passes through the town of Mácher, in the municipality of Tías, with an investment of 1.1 million euros by the Government of the Canary Islands.
