The Minister of Public Works, Housing and Mobility of the Government of the Canary Islands, Pablo Rodríguez, made his first institutional visit to Lanzarote this Thursday. In it, he highlighted the commitment of the Canarian Executive to continue working with the Island Council and establish the priorities and needs of the Island.
Rodríguez made these statements after the meeting held this Thursday morning with the Lanzarote Island Council, in which he was accompanied by the president, Oswaldo Betancort, and the vice president, Jacobo Medina, and his team of general directors.
Pablo Rodríguez insisted that "the Ministry team is working to tender and award as soon as possible the link between the LZ-2 and LZ-3 roads, which is now in the public information process. An action of great importance for the Island, which has been demanding it for so many years, and one of the most relevant of the Highway Agreement."
The link contemplates the development of a roundabout, with four branches, in which two roads are also projected, one to the west of the roundabout, which allows connection with the El Cable urbanization, and another that connects with the city center.
For his part, Oswaldo Betancort thanked the Ministry for "the effort to materialize the projects that were not executed in the previous legislature and join the commitment to provide the island of Lanzarote with 350 more public homes in 2026, not only in the capital, but also in rural areas. Likewise, I must thank the willingness of the department headed by Pablo Rodríguez to work together to project the future on the Island and fulfill the commitments in terms of road infrastructure to guarantee mobility, safety and decarbonization of the mobile park."
Likewise, the vice president and councilor of Public Works, Jacobo Medina, considered the councilor's visit to the island "necessary". "Lanzarote has a huge capacity for improvement in roads and infrastructure, so fluid communication between administrations is essential to continue shaping a better island."
The councilor has taken a tour of several municipal districts to learn about the state of execution or processing of some projects of interest in terms of road infrastructure and housing.
In this sense, they have addressed the state of the new underpass under the LZ-2, which aims to improve the connectivity of the town of Playa Honda and the industrial area, and which contemplates the creation of an underpass with a lane for vehicles, bicycles, a pedestrian sidewalk and a green area.
"This project will be carried out using the pushing procedure, which is unusual in the construction of road infrastructure, but which will considerably minimize the impact on traffic in this area and speed up the development of the works, improving the operation of the link and promoting pedestrian traffic," Rodríguez pointed out.
Regarding the ports, they have taken stock of the situation of the Port of Órzola, Caleta del Sebo and Playa Blanca, whose reform and expansion was awarded by the head of this Ministry in his previous stage and has been completed this year.
Likewise, the councilor has highlighted the importance of the Port of Caleta del Sebo, which since September has had the improvement drafting project awarded, and the Port of Órzola, highlighting that both the Ministry and the Island Council and the General Directorate of Fisheries, will continue to hold meetings to analyze the improvements to be developed in it.
Housing boost
During the meeting, the Ministry and the Island Council highlighted the importance of continuing to promote housing policies.
"In total, more than 350 homes will be built in the coming months on the island, so, before 2026, we will be able to respond to the important demand for public housing in Lanzarote. In this case, the island is the one in which the execution of the Canary Islands Housing Plan and also of European funds is going best," Rodríguez added.
Both institutions have addressed the transfer of several plots, offered both by the island administration and by the Yaiza City Council, whose project drafting is under intervention, to increase the public housing stock.
In addition, they have visited the works of 134 homes located in the Maneje neighborhood, in Arrecife, included in the Canary Islands Housing Plan 2020-2025, which are currently in the earthmoving and foundation phase and are expected to be completed in 2025. Likewise, the Ministry contemplates the construction of a third block of 67 more homes in the same municipal district.
On the other hand, within the programs of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, subsidized with Next Generation funds from the European Union, the Canarian Housing Institute has another 46 homes on Calle Triana, in Arrecife, and another 126 in Yaiza.
Finally, Rodríguez insisted that the Ministry will not carry out any action in Lanzarote without the agreement of the Island Council. "We are always going to agree on the issues, tasks and actions that we want to promote because we understand that this is how Lanzarote and the Canary Islands work best," he concluded.
