The City Council of La Laguna has recovered the public use of a site that during the Canarian Coalition mandate was used exclusively by two transport companies. Transportes Tenerife Josué SL and Transportes Canarios Mary SA used this space located between the Valle Tabares main road and La Era de Tabares street, in the La Cuesta neighborhood, as a bus parking.
Sources from the government team, made up of the PSOE, Unidas Podemos and Avante La Laguna, have explained to this newspaper that since this coalition took power they have received complaints from residents of La Cuesta in relation to the private use of this plot. However, they clarify that a few months after the PSOE began to lead the City Council, the two companies suddenly stopped occupying this site.
As a result of the complaints of the lagoons, the government team consulted the ownership of the space to the Public Building Service and asked if there was any enabling title in the Urban Planning Management that would allow the occupation or use of this plot of public domain.
On June 29, 2021, the Treasury, Economic Services and Citizen Security area responded that this plot, located in the La Cuesta neighborhood, belongs to the Inventory of the Municipal Urban Planning Management and that there is no contract that allows a private entity make exclusive use of it.
According to these sources, on June 21, 2021, members of the City Council visited the plot and, although it was empty, it was fenced off and a “private parking” sign hung at the entrance. The transport companies that were using this site as a parking lot were Transportes Canarios Mary SA and Transportes Tenerife Josué SL Both belong to the same business group and have been dedicated to the road passenger transport service for more than 30 years.
The two companies performed more than 60 services to the La Laguna City Council between 2016 and 2018, while Coalición Canaria was in power. For these services, these companies received a total of 367,836.77 euros. Transportes Tenerife Josué SL collected 181,267.68 euros and Transportes Canarios Mary SA, 186,569.09 euros, according to data consulted by this newspaper. Actions carried out include transfers of residents to beaches in the municipality or trips of youth groups from La Laguna to the Siam Park water park, located in the south of the island.
Currently, the City Council of La Laguna is processing the free transfer of this plot to the Government of the Canary Islands through the Canarian Housing Institute, in order to build protected housing for public promotion.
