The neighborhoods of Arrecife are still waiting. They are owed a lot, for years, by all administrations. The Councilor for Urban Planning of the capital, my party colleague and candidate for the Congress of Deputies for Coalición Canaria Lanzarote, Samuel Martín, has fought and continues to fight for them. But there is still much to be done and we cannot do it alone.
We are going to request again from the Government of the Canary Islands that the Arrecife neighborhoods can benefit from the funds of the extinct General Tax on Business Traffic (IGTE). In this way, the historical debt that the Autonomous Government has contracted with the third capital of the Canary Islands would be alleviated.
We know that one of the criteria established to distribute these funds is that they be allocated to financeable projects that generate economy and are self-sufficient. But we want to convince the Executive led by Fernando Clavijo that exceptions or nuances must be established to allow this money to reach the inhabitants of the capital's neighborhoods.
From Lanzarote, a lot has been done for its capital. The Cabildo has invested 24 million euros in it, especially in sanitation and rainwater, but it has also been used for other actions: rehabilitating the El Almacén Island Culture Center, the Youth Center or the old Cabildo, beautifying the entrance through the LZ-2 and improving accessibility in the vicinity of the IES Zonzamas and César Manrique, among many others. Despite this enormous effort, the city still has a long list of fair and urgent demands that can hardly be met only from this island.
We need to promote an ambitious Neighborhood Plan that allows not only the paving of streets or the remodeling and creation of sidewalks, but also translates into the installation of streetlights on the streets; in the repair of playgrounds and the construction of new ones; in the construction and provision of new socio-cultural centers and in the renovation of existing ones; in the creation of new multi-use courts. Measures that must also include sanitation works that put an end to the endemic ills of the third city of the Canary Islands and that result in what really matters to us and what moves us to act: the improvement of the quality of life of its citizens.
The economic effort that the Arrecife City Council and the Cabildo of Lanzarote can make is limited for a plan of this magnitude. It is essential that the Government of the Canary Islands get involved. And that is why we are already working.
Marci Acuña, candidate for the Senate for Coalición Canaria Lanzarote