«Valbuena will have to assume the agreements of the Council of Canary Islands Government and what the regional Parliament says »in support for the construction of the port of Fonsalía, in Guía de Isora. “Its function and its work is that the environmental assessment meets the requirements required by law,” said yesterday the president of the Tenerife Council, Pedro Martín, regarding the opposite position of the regional councilor for Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Planning Territorial.
The last pronouncement of the regional Chamber was registered on June 9 last and consisted of approving a non-law proposal (NLP) through which the Canarian Government is urged to definitively promote the construction of the Port of Fonsalía. The proposal was presented by the Popular Group and it also asks the Executive of the Islands to request the State to provide a financial record for the development of this infrastructure. The autonomous Parliament gave the go-ahead (only Sí Podemos said no) to an amendment by the PSOE by which the central government must rule on the assignment of the maritime domain to the Canary Islands, essential to launch the tender for the project and its execution.
Before the public demonstrations of his party partner and member of the regional Executive, Pedro Martin he wonders “if the area of Climate Change of the Government of the Canary Islands is going to put obstacles to making a new environmental impact statement, because it seems that it has already put them before starting.” Speaking to Radio Club Tenerife, the president of the Cabildo emphasizes that “if a new environmental impact statement is to be made” “it will have to be done”, because the objective of this project is to “improve communications” with La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro, whose inhabitants “are not being listened to.”
The change in inter-island maritime traffic to Fonsalía is justified by the saturation of Los Cristianos, he recalled. Building an underground road to the South Highway to avoid the collapse of traffic that occurs in the town “is very expensive”, both due to the investment in the land required (expropriations) and the maintenance of the resulting tunnel.
The use of the ports of Granadilla and Santa Cruz de Tenerife as alternatives to the Port of Los Cristianos “It is out of place” because it raises the cost of journeys as the marine distance to be covered is greater and because industrial and passenger use is mixed, in the case of the Granadillero area. In addition, these destinations do not solve the problem of the protection of cetaceans that justifies the opposition to the Isorano port. He assured that the sifios are not exclusive to the Fonsalía coast and recalled the accidents that the jet-foil between Santa Cruz and Las Palmas led.
Pedro Martín assured that the Port of Fonsalía would generate energy savings and CO2 emissions, because it reduces sea journeys by 65,000 kilometers compared to Los Cristianos and by 140,000 in the case of Granadilla.
