The President of the Institution, Pedro Martin, considers it “absolutely necessary” to undertake the actions contemplated in this emergency work “before putting out to tender, from this Cabildo, the project to remodel the Plaza de la Patrona de Canarias.” Martín Domínguez explains that this is necessary “to be able to carry out” the works “with all the safety guarantees”, as well as to “make sure that the sea will not again cause some setback in the works process.”
After stressing that the island government promotes projects considered strategic for the Island, “and this is one of them, due to the value it treasures as a symbol among the population of Tenerife,” the president explains that with the adopted agreement “we attend to the request of the Candelaria City Council and we guarantee with this grant that this work is carried out in a timely manner.”
Action required
Along these lines, the Mayor of Candelaria, Mari Brito, thanks Pedro Martín and the Insular Corporation for their commitment “in meeting the demand for the city Hall awarding this grant, which will allow face the emergency defense and repair work on the Paseo de San Blas and that it was necessary to undertake the works of the Plaza de la Patrona de Canarias, another investment that is already closer to materializing ». It also includes the replacement of the collapsed retaining wall and the execution of a botaolas after the existing one in the San Blas area. The works include the repair and replacement of the pavement of the Paseo Marítimo, as well as the foundation of the sculptures of the removed menceys, which will be relocated.
These works were declared urgent by the Candelaria City Council and commissioned to the Satocan company, through a decree from the Mayor’s Office, at the end of last May. The repair and defense works affect the promenade of the Guanches sculptural complex. The company that carries out the works carried out a similar action in the San Blas promenade annex, which included an underwater breakwater whose extension is considered an essential part of this new intervention motivated by the damage caused by the sea to the promenades, the beach and the houses on Obispo Pérez Cáceres street.
More than eight months
After the strong waves registered on February 26, which forced remove two of the mencey sculptures due to “serious and imminent risk”, the City Council and the supra-municipal administrations studied “the best solutions and alternatives for the defense and repair of the Paseo de San Blas and the sculptural ensemble of the Guanches.” On March 2, with Planning of the Territory and Historical Heritage of the Cabildo, they advanced in the possible solutions and the framing of the project with the remodeling of the square. The City Council contracted the drafting of the project and the direction of the works to a consulting team on March 26. He received it on May 17. On May 26, the local government decreed the execution of the works by emergency, awarding them to the Satocan company, the same company that carried out the works to protect the adjacent Paseo de San Blas.
PP: «Help the neighbors of La Arena»
“We demand that the Cabildo not forget the citizens,” says Manuel Fernández, deputy spokesman for the Popular Group. It proposes that “in the same way that it streamlines the procedures to pay for damages caused by the action of the sea in Paseo San Blas, help the residents of La Arena street to maintain the security of their homes urgently”, some of who had to evict them, he says. He recalls that members of the PP in Villa Mariana “sounded the alarm at that time, given the situation of physical and economic insecurity of the residents of the area, who were being asked to proceed with the construction of a dam with resources own to protect their homes. Fernández also claims that the realization of the project of the Plaza de la Patrona, “which has been budgeted for 20 years by this administration without a single stone having been moved.” He describes the fact as “very serious”, “taking into account that it is an environment in which there is an invaluable historical and cultural heritage for the people of Tenerife.”
