Emilio Navarro, mayor of Santiago del Teide, yesterday again asked for an urgent solution so that an end to the haze of arid caused by the works of the Insular Ring that affects the historic center of the municipality. Navarro has presented a request to Public Health and Ecological Transition, departments of the Canary Islands Government, for “urgent compliance” with the measures aimed at minimizing the suspended dust clouds produced by the work on the Insular Ring and which “result in damage to the public health of the population of the town of Santiago del Teide.” “The measures that had already been agreed in the plenary session on May 27, but we have not had a response yet, nor have we proceeded to eradicate the large amount of suspended dust that these works generate,” the mayor denounced.
The residents of the historic center of Santiago del Teide carry months suffering the effects of a suffocating haze. It is not caused by the Saharan suspended dust, as occurs in this climatic phenomenon, but by the processing of the Aggregates of the Insular Ring works, near the center of the southern municipality. The works correspond to the section of the Insular Ring between El Tanque and Santiago del Teide, and include the construction of the Erjos tunnel, under the Teno massif. In Emilio Navarro’s request to Public Health, the mayor urgently requests that “the area be inspected and the health impact study carried out that the existence of this cloud of earth may have on the health of the inhabitants of the historic center of our municipality. Meanwhile, the request sent to the Ministry of Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands requests that “the analysis, verification and monitoring be carried out” of the environmental studies issued in relation to the file of the works of the Tenerife Insular Ring, “due to the way in which the one that these works are being carried out and the damages that are being caused in the area ”.
Given this, the councilor from Santiago assures that “through this requirement we hope that the measures agreed upon by all parties will finally be implemented and a response will be given to a problem in which, unfortunately, the public health of the neighbors has been implicated, given its continuity in time without seeing that alternative actions have been put in place for the processing of aggregates that do not threaten the safety of the population ”.
Emilio Navarro has already asked on other occasions in recent weeks for an urgent solution to this problem. The last time was on July 21, when the PP politician asked those responsible for the Government of the Canary Islands and the company that executes the work of the Ring to “Accelerate the implementation of the measures that have been approved by all parties to end this cloud of dust.”