"The project tries to solve the problems and have a port according to the needs of Playa Blanca, since it is a dock that moves 800,000 passengers a year," explains Leonardo Rodríguez, candidate of the Canarian Coalition for the Yaiza City Council. Rodríguez commented that the current dock has capacity problems "and sometimes there is danger because the two ships that are going to dock there do not fit."
In this way, a port expansion project was devised. "Another larger breakwater will be taken out, outside the dock, at the height of a shopping center to leave the current dock for recreational use." Thus, this new breakwater would only concentrate the entry and exit of large ships.
This project is already in the allegation phase, as reported on Monday morning, after it passed the public exhibition. "Then it will go to the COTMAC, and if it has its approval, the approval of Costas will be requested and then the work will be put out to tender." Leonardo Rodríguez estimates that until the construction work on the new port of Playa Blanca begins, 18 to 24 months will pass "if everything goes well."
From the Cabildo, although it has not yet given an assessment of this project, they have shown a good will for the new port of Playa Blanca. Even so, after this session they have held a meeting to assess these actions in the tourist town of Yaiza.
La Graciosa Dock
Another relevant issue that has been studied in the meeting held on Monday morning has been the lack of exterior light that exists in the port of La Graciosa. "The problem had been a lack of power in the outer dike that is already being tried to solve," explains Orlando Umpiérrez, General Director of Water of the Government of the Canary Islands.
The improvement of the esplanade of the dock of the eighth island has also been put on the table. This initiative has been well received by the members of the Department of Ports and Infrastructure, since as Orlando Umpiérrez explains, "those responsible for Ports have agreed to give a quick solution to the problem"
