A.A.
- We have been told that you made good use of your options during the visit you recently made to the Director General of Coasts in the company of your colleague Marcial Martín and the Mayor of Teguise, Juan Pedro Hernández. Is that so?
- Well, we had a working meeting last week in which we raised a series of issues that affect our municipality. We made some very clear approaches: to develop a conditioning project for La Tiñosa so that it is approved in the next joint commission to be held in Lanzarote on November 4, with a favorable report that already exists on the Risco de La Tiñosa and Morro de los Jureles area; we also raised a problem in the area of the Guacimeta airport beach, next to the airport runway...
- What are you referring to, the wooden part that has been placed there?
- Indeed, I am referring to the section of the promenade that connects the municipality of Tías with the municipality of San Bartolomé and that was not authorized to be paved in its day. It has a serious problem when the tide rises, because the water affects an important part of the promenade, and it also has a problem with the water that is generated on the airport's runway when it rains in winter, without forgetting that it is seventy-five meters from the airport's security line. We proposed to Costas to remove the wood from the promenade area that is at the height of the Guacimeta airport and to carry out a conditioning project that allows paving without harming the environment. The Director of Coasts told us that the engineer of the Technical Office of the City Council should draft the project to process the corresponding request. We also raised the continuation of a conversation that we already had at the time, because we are determined to have a serious study carried out on the regeneration of the beaches of Puerto del Carmen, and we want the General Directorate of Coasts to assume it in its entirety. He told us that he would launch the issue to contract the project. Finally, we raised the possibility of creating a path to connect the municipality of Tías with that of Yaiza through Puerto Calero, a path that is practically made and that would only require good conditioning. The commitment of the Director General is that the public company Tracsa will take charge of the project and the work.
- What can you tell us about the Rehabilitation Days of the Tourist Center?
- These are days that will take place in Puerto del Carmen on the 4th. We are very happy because we are going to host the first rehabilitation days of tourist centers in the Canary Islands, a topic that derives from the Guidelines themselves in their mandate that those mature tourist centers carry out this type of study. We must not forget that Puerto del Carmen began in the tourist field back in 1967, hence in 2007 we will celebrate the 40th anniversary. It is important that these days are celebrated, because what we want from the City Council, from the Cabildo and from the Government of the Canary Islands is to lay the foundations to carry out the rehabilitation of the accommodation plant and the diversification of the tourist offer. These are issues that must be taken into account and that must be worked on so that they are reflected in the next projects that are carried out.
- Everything will also have to be related to the approval of the Cabildo's Special Territorial Plan, right?
- Yes, of course. In these days what is going to be raised is the study of the tourist center, submitting the issue to debate and involving the administrations that have to legislate and coordinate the actions, so that through the documents of general plans and territorial plans the hotel and non-hotel accommodation plant can be renovated and the rest of the tourist facilities can be renovated. We are going to coordinate our urban planning policy with the Cabildo through the Special Territorial Plan, for which we are going to confront the ideas of the two technical teams and thus see the possibilities of renovating the hotel and non-hotel plant. I would also like to announce that there are already 8,000 tourist beds that have just been renovated in Puerto del Carmen, which are working perfectly in the market. The data clearly indicates that the accommodation establishments that have opted for renovation are the ones with the best occupancy rates at the moment. Therefore, we must decisively bet on renovating the hotel plant, the non-hotel plant and all the activity that is around it, diversifying the offer. With that we don't have to go crazy putting the complementary activity. We will have to put the necessary complementary activity and the one that our visitors demand. We must not forget that the Tourist Infrastructure Plan is also going to be launched, which has to do with the asphalt and public lighting throughout Puerto del Carmen, where there is no need to act with rainwater. The next phase will have to do with the total change of Avenida de Las Playas, from Playa Grande towards San Antonio.
- What exactly are you going to change there?
- These studies that I am talking about indicate that we have to expand the sidewalks, condition the bicycle lane, restrict traffic by moving it to the north area...
- Are you thinking about the possibility of creating a second ring road?
- We are thinking about the rambla, where we are already working, to open up to Anzuelo street; the opposite would be unthinkable, it would be a real chaos.
- What is happening with your contacts with the Director General of Educational Infrastructure?
- I was already meeting with him at the Puerto del Carmen Secondary Education Institute, because after finishing the works and starting the course I had not had the opportunity. The most important thing in this sense has to do with the commitment of the new project to build a school between Mácher and La Asomada. I have already seen the preliminary project, and there is a commitment for it to be completed in the last days of November or the first of December, and it will have supervision and contracting for a period of fourteen months. It is a school that will have a school canteen, a gymnasium.
