The Secretary of State admits “loss of confidence” of the economic agents and does not take a position on whether there will be works before 2026
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Oct 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Secretary of State for Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Isabel Pardo de Vera, has guaranteed this Monday that there will be no “budget limitation” in Aena to undertake the comprehensive reform of the Tenerife South airport demanded by the Canarian institutions and the economic and social agents .
At a press conference in which she was accompanied by the Minister of Transport of the Government of the Canary Islands, Sebastián Franquis, and the president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín, she highlighted the “commitment” of the Ministry to monitor the writing of the project, included in the DORA II and for an amount of more than 3.4 million.
Pardo de Vera, who has also met with economic agents of the island, has said that the project “that needs” the island will be drawn up and whose main lines will be the “functionality” and comfort of the tourists and not “ostentation” or “inefficient” expenses.
He has admitted that in the meeting he found “loss of confidence” with the central Executive for not being “on the ground” and a “confusion” with the operation of the DORA program and hopes that now they will begin to “take steps” hand in hand with the union of the three administrations involved.
He has said that the project must be prepared by Aena but taking into account the demands and sensitivities of the institutions and the economic and social agents of the island and has made it clear that the airport manager has “flexibility” to increase the budget, especially through from the unregulated part – not charged to the airlines.
For this reason, he has commented that the bidding documents will be reviewed to guarantee that the island will have the airport “it needs”, and he does not know if it involves demolishing the old terminal or taking advantage of and reinterpreting the current facilities –in March work on the terminal two link building is finished.
“I trust the best professionals and if there is something that is profitable, the professionals will say so,” he added.
Regarding the dates of the project, he has said that the objective is for the works to begin “at the right time” and when the project is technically completed, so he does not know if it will be before 2026 when DORA II ends, an aspiration of both the Government of The Canary Islands and the Cabildo de Tenerife.
AENA DOES NOT ATTEND THE MEETING
Despite the absence of Aena representatives at the meeting, he has commented that they maintain an “intimate relationship” and the Ministry watches over the general interest of investments, but has explained that it does not interfere in the manager’s powers because that would be “chaos absolute”.
Thus, it has denied that the agreement this Monday is born “lame” since Aena can “support” an investment of this magnitude.
According to Pardo de Vera, now it is a question of “making the best project and whatever it costs,” stating, however, that the Ministry cannot invest directly in the airport through the PGE.
What he has claimed is that the new project responds to a “long-term” strategic planning and that it does not continue to act “in phases”, as it has been up to now, and that it also takes into account its integration with other modes of transport on the island .
Sebastián Franquis has valued the visit of the Secretary of State to listen to the demands of the economic agents of the island and believes that from now on “a new stage is beginning” in which there will be “participation and collaboration” of the public administrations.
Along these lines, he said that this project “is everyone’s commitment” and there will be “transparency” with its evolution.
“WORK REMAINS TO BE DONE,” SAYS PEDRO MARTÍN
Pedro Martín recalled his opposition “from the first moment” to DORA II because “it is not what the Tenerife Sur airport needs” while he thanked the Secretary of State for the visit to “listen” to Tenerife society.
He pointed out that “progress has been made” but “there is still work to be done” because now we will have to sit down again with Aena to define the project “together”, underlining that Tenerife South is a “very profitable” airport that needs an investment of these characteristics for the next 20 years.
