The budget for the Highways area rises 7% to 68.2 million, with more than 50 million dedicated exclusively to investment
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Feb. 14 (EUROPE PRESS) –
The budget for the construction of the third lane of the TF-5, between Los Rodeos and Guamasa, will have a budget close to 50 million euros, hence the Cabildo de Tenerife has demanded its financing from the Government of the Canary Islands.
This was outlined this Monday at a press conference by the president of the Cabildo, Pedro Martín, and the Minister of Highways, Enrique Arriaga, who have criticized the agreement made in the past mandate by the Cabildo and the regional government that implied that the management fell to the island corporation and for only 8 million euros.
According to Arriaga, this project demonstrates “the ego” of the former president and Cabildo and current spokesman for the Nationalist Group, Carlos Alonso, who assumed “commitments” that the Cabildo “could not pay” with its own resources.
Both Martín and Arriaga have pointed out that when the mandate began, the Aena sectoral report was still pending -already resolved- and the environmental impact statement, which is pending approval, but at least the drafting of the project has already been awarded for 1.8 million.
Arriaga has shown his desire that the work can begin this year, although he assumes that the environmental processing “is complicated”, and pointed out that it is a key action because it is going to modify the Guamasa link that will be attached to the La Laguna bypass project .
Martín has commented that it is a “very necessary” project to begin to resolve the traffic jams on the TF-5, but he has assumed that it is a large-scale action that “exceeds” the financial capacity of the Cabildo, so it must be financed from the road agreement with the State.
The president made these statements during the presentation of the budgets for the road area for this year, which rose by 7% to 68.2 million, of which 50.8 million are allocated to investment “in a difficult time” due to the reduction of income, he has indicated.
He stressed that so far there are 30.9 million in awarded works, including the Padre Anchieta pedestrian walkway -which is being built on the Peninsula-, actions on the two highways or various emergency works.
He has valued the good relationship with the Government of the Canary Islands after the “interference” of the last mandate and trusts that at the end of this the great pending works to improve mobility on the island will have begun given that when they came to power in the Cabildo ” there were no projects” of anything.
He gave as an example the development of the Chafiras-Oroteanda axis, on the TF-1, whose effects are already beginning to be felt, the section of the Icod-San Juan de la Rambla island ring road, or the La Laguna bypass, a project I know had been “kept in a drawer” and has already been put out to tender.
CIRCUMVALATION OF LA LAGUNA: BIDDING IN THIS MANDATE
The objective, the president has indicated, is that it be tendered in this mandate and it will suppose an “important change” in the traffic congestion on the TF-5, regretting that it has had to “start from scratch” given that works of these characteristics They take many years to run.
Arriaga has agreed with Martín that all the projects were “paralyzed” or slowed down and they have been “working piecemeal” for three years to “update” the pending actions, which are even going to be increased by loans that the corporation has requested .
Regarding the BUS-VAO lane on the TF-5, it has indicated that it is still pending the bidding for the drafting of the project, although it has made it clear that a project of these characteristics cannot be undertaken on a road with only two lanes.
He has pointed out that the objective of the Cabildo is to pass in this mandate from 3 kilometers of BUS-VAO lane to 53 kilometers and that of the TF-1, between Güímar and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, is already being drafted, and they hope to award the work shortly from Las Chumberas-La Laguna in an ascending direction.
The insular director of Highways, Tomás Félix García, has indicated that a portion of 21.6 million has been reserved for road maintenance, including a new contest, with four sectors, for 16 million, or 3.6 million in scenery.
In addition, and thanks to the remainder of the corporation’s treasury, another 34 million can be invested.
