The islandist party recalls that the lifeguard service for the beach was put out to tender in 2014, with a validity until 2018, and in which two annual extensions were made effective, extending the contract until 2020. Since then, the Teguise City Council has maintained the service without an updated tender, accumulating six years outside the legal framework. A situation that not only constitutes an administrative breach, but also "entails evident legal and fiscal responsibility for the institution".
“It seems that in Teguise it is normal to work with expired contracts when we talk about essential services. The worrying thing is that here we are not talking about urban furniture, we are talking about security and possible emergencies on a high-risk beach,” points out the spokesperson for Primero Teguise, Jonás Álvarez.
The party also denounces the labor situation of the lifeguards, hired as aquatic monitors, assuming a responsibility that does not correspond with their category or their working conditions. Currently, only three lifeguards cover six kilometers of beach, when the regulations establish that there should be one lifeguard for every 600 meters. "In addition, it must be taken into account that there is a prohibition on the use of intervention vehicles depending on the situation.
Likewise, we are aware that the vehicle they could use for certain cases cannot pass its technical inspection, so it is also unusable and the lifeguards have to travel on foot. Taking into account that the rescue station is located in a place that is not central to the beach and that prevents greater visual control. Everything is aggravated by the deficiencies of the rescue station, which even lacks access to water,” conclude the political party.
"To say that the beach is monitored with these means is, at the very least, an exercise in imagination. Three people cannot control six kilometers of dangerous beach, no matter how hard they try," Álvarez points out.
To this situation, Primero Teguise reports, are added other deficiencies that lead to a situation of "abandonment with respect to security and assistance." The group reports "absence of informative signage, something that in the words of the PTG councilman would help inform bathers and visitors of the conditions and dangers of the beach” and the lack of masts and signaling flags.
Continuing with his speech, Jonás explains that "a beach extension like this needs to cover as much space as necessary with signaling flags so that the state of the tides can be warned. Between that and the placement of the information panels that we have mentioned, it could be complemented as security elements, but never replace the work of the lifeguards. Tourism is changing and more and more tourists are coming to this beach to spend the day. It is not about giving a better or worse image, it is about giving worse or better security."
"Promises in Famara are carried away by the wind, just like the sand. Of course, when something happens, they'll try to make sure no one takes responsibility," the party spokesperson ironically states
From Primero Teguise, they consider that this situation "is a direct consequence of the lack of planning and management that prioritizes stretching problems over time instead of solving them". There should be a periodicity for supervising and enforcing the contract so that they are complying with both the contracted personnel and the awarded means. "Security can no longer be managed with patches and expired contracts. Famara needs a serious and urgent solution, no more excuses," concludes Jonás Álvarez.