The Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has reported this Friday that it considers it appropriate that the port area of Fonsalía, in the Tenerife municipality of Guía de Isora, be included in the maritime spatial planning plans.
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He makes this proposal because he understands that the port area of Fonsalía is postulated as a possible future alternative to the port of Los Cristianos, he says in a statement.
The agency explains that it does not hold powers over the projected port, but understands that this “is postulated as an alternative to the port of Los Cristianos in view of its difficulties in adapting to the growing demand associated with inter-island passenger and freight traffic.” For this reason, it considers it appropriate for said plan to take into account the maritime spatial planning of the aforementioned infrastructure so that its compatibility with the marine strategy of the Canarian Marine Demarcation can be established.
Precisely that argument of the alleged saturation of the port of Los Cristiano is one of those put forward by the defenders of the construction of that infrastructure, which has caused a major social rejection since it is part of the recently created Whale Sanctuary Site by UNESCO, and which is the only one in the European Union and third in the world with this title. The detractors of the project, faced with the argument of saturation in Los Cristianos, have proposed that traffic be diverted to the nearby Granadilla macroport, built just a few years ago and practically without activity since its inauguration.
The Port Authority recalls that it will be on September 8 when the consultation and public information period of the Maritime Spatial Planning Plans (POEM) of the five Spanish marine demarcations ends, in the strategic environmental assessment procedure.
More specifically, maritime spatial planning is the process by which the competent authorities analyze and organize human activities in marine areas in order to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives, becoming a strategic instrument that facilitates the use of space. optimal maritime transport, reducing conflicts and promoting coexistence and synergies.
According to the Port Authority, it is based on the premise that marine waters can be the object of coexistence between different uses and activities, and that these uses and activities can be carried out without compromising the good environmental status of the marine environment.
The Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, within the scope of its powers and in line with what was reported last year on the occasion of the prior consultation process for the strategic environmental assessment of the POEMs, affirms that it will “watch over” in the cabinet of Communication, Protocol and Institutional Relations “because the POEMs contemplate the presence of the ports of general interest of the province, without weighing down the development of their activity”.
It alleges that it also seeks not to establish restrictions on navigation in the port environment that could make them less competitive.
It adds that, in this sense, although Zones I, internal waters of ports, and Zones II, external waters for access channels, waiting and anchoring areas, of ports are outside the scope of application of the POEM of general interest, already delimited and regulated by its own regulations, it will be ensured that the provisions for the expansion of port Zones are contemplated in said plans.
Regarding the waters in the immediate surroundings of said Zones II, the need for the safety conditions linked to navigation to be preserved in the POEMs will be pointed out and their functionality is not limited.
The Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife ends by saying that it should be remembered that the General Directorate of the Coast and the Sea of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITERD) is the administration responsible for preparing the planning plans for maritime space .
