The president of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Pedro Martín, has warned this Monday the Minister of Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands, José Antonio Valbuena, that “he will have to assume” what the Parliament of the Canary Islands and the regional government say about the construction from the port of Fonsalía, in Guía de Isora. The project for the construction of this infrastructure that has caused a social movement against its creation as it would be located next to the only Whale Sanctuary in the European Union, and third in the world, for its great biological diversity, especially cetaceans.
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“The one that says yes is the Parliament of the Canary Islands [a excepción de Sí Podemos, que votó en contra] and the one who says that he is the President of the Government of the Canary Islands, that is the voice of the Government and that is the voice of Parliament and that is the one that I stay with, “he said in statements to Cadena Ser collected by Europa Press in relation to the discrepancies that the project has opened within the PSOE and the regional Executive itself.
Martín has clarified that Valbuena, as head of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, is responsible for ensuring that the environmental assessments that have to be made “are adequate” and comply with the “requirements” of the law.
The Tenerife president has also criticized the position of the PP and especially the Canary Coalition (CC) because they depend on whether they govern or are in the opposition, and in the specific case of the nationalists, he has indicated that when they governed in the Cabildo they reserved an area in Guía de Isora “to build that port”, in such a way that “it already supported that initiative.”
In his opinion, using the ports of Granadilla or Santa Cruz de Tenerife for passenger traffic to the green islands “is out of place” compared to the construction of a port in Fonsalía, which would save about 65,000 kilometers of journeys by sea, he argues. .
Martín has affirmed that “if it is necessary to do” a new environmental impact statement “will have to be done” because the objective of this project is to “improve communications” with La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, whose citizens “are not being listened to.”
In addition, he has insisted that it is not about “putting new boats” but also about avoiding a traffic problem in Los Cristianos, apart from the fact that this port cannot be expanded because it already occupies a protected area and has the opposition of neighbors. for his affection to the beach.
Likewise, it has indicated that the option of building an underground road to remove the traffic of cars that arrive on the boats “is very expensive” and would force to undertake many expropriations.
Regarding the affection of cetaceans, he has been in favor of “preserving” the marine wealth of the west of Tenerife but has specified that it is a general “problem” of the Canary Islands, for which he asks for a study on their behavior since ” they are not alone “on the coast of Guía.
According to Martín, taking passenger traffic to the other two ports on the island “does not solve the protection of cetaceans”, while recalling the accidents with whales caused by jet foil on the way between Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas of Gran Canaria.
