Enrique Arriaga (Ciudadanos), vice president of the Cabildo de Tenerife and councilor for Roads, Mobility, Innovation and Culture, insists on the search for “consensus” on projects for the Island such as the South train, which is why he does not understand that, after withdraw the motion presented in the last plenary session for its inclusion in the general interest railway network in favor of that consensus, CC and PP have announced their intention to present motions along the same line in the next session “without even having sat down ”. Therefore, the island councilor considers that “PP and CC do not seek to favor the train, but rather to generate division and tension.” In this interview with DIARIO DE AVISOS, he highlights the importance of the bus lanes, which are starting to come into operation (to go from the current three kilometers to 53 on the Island), and which will make public transport more attractive, because it will be much faster than the car. Likewise, as regional coordinator of Ciudadanos (Cs), Arriaga also announces his “intention” to repeat as the party’s candidate for the Cabildo.
-As regional coordinator of Cs, how do you assess the current situation of the party in the Canary Islands and its near future?
“The elections in Castilla y León have meant the loss of eleven prosecutors, but in the Canary Islands we continue exactly the same and we continue working to get the population excited so that they believe in this project of a reformist liberal center. We also have to do a bit of self-criticism to see why we have had such bad results in Castilla y León, but, regardless of that, we have to continue working to excite the voters, because it is not that there has been a transfer of votes between Cs and the rest of the parties, in the end the vote of the center is a vote that if it is disillusioned it goes to abstention and there has been a lot of abstention in Castilla y León. And that is why we have to work to convey the message and get that moderate center voter excited.”
-How does the party face the 2023 elections? What will your red lines be?
“The red lines are the ones that have always been, we do not agree with the extremes and we are always open to agreeing on policies, which is what is important. Any party that agrees with us on the policies in which we believe, which are center-based, reformist, we have no problem reaching agreements, except for the extreme ones, to ensure that the Canary Islands progress and start up”.
-Will you repeat as a Cs candidate for the Cabildo?
“Yes, that is my intention, especially because I would like to finish the projects that we have started in this legislature and many of the lines of work that we have started, but I will be whatever the party asks of me.”
-Speaking of the Cabildo, as vice president, in what state is the insular pact? Above all, regarding the latest events related to the debate on the train of the South…
“The government team has no problem, we work in a coordinated manner. There is no tension between the two government partners. It is being a quite complicated legislature due to all the problems that we have encountered, such as the pandemic and all kinds of situations that have happened, but it is also strange from the point of view of the opposition, that its only mission has not been to work for the Island. but a wear and tear and continuous attack and demolition against the government group, even going against its principles. The Government team is working well, with great intensity, we are in the Roads and Mobility area working hard to get little by little to solve the problems of infrastructure and traffic jams that we have on the Island. We knew from the outset that it is not a work that lasts two days, if not years, but the most important thing is that all the projects are underway, in different stages and phases of the process, and that now it is a matter of time”.
– And what is your position right now on the South train?
“As soon as I joined the Government group, as Mobility Minister I had to put all possible options on the table in order to solve mobility problems. For example, the expansion of the tramway to Los Rodeos was drawn up by me practically as soon as the legislature began, in 2020 we also put the southern train on the table, because it is my obligation. Another thing is what is happening lately, taking out a debate that is perhaps being exaggerated too much, as a result of a motion that we presented as simply an administrative procedure, and right now a debate is taking place that is perhaps too forced, because it is talking about the train yes or no and implying that this is an issue for now and the train, no matter how much we were all in favor and the procedures were in place, before 3-4 years the works would not be starting. We presented a motion simply to include the railways of Gran Canaria and Tenerife in the railway network of general interest, an administrative procedure that came out unanimously in Gran Canaria and not in Tenerife, and I withdrew the motion precisely to try to seek consensus. And without even having sat down, CC and PP present the same motion again, not seeking consensus but confrontation, so it is perfectly clear that the motions that the PP and CC are going to present do not seek to favor the train, but rather, at On the contrary, generate division and tension. From what they have commented, it seems that the motions are going to be practically the same as the ones we presented, which does not make any sense, because if I have withdrawn it to try to sit down with the different political groups and seek consensus, present them in the next Full without even sitting with us, it makes no sense. Such an important infrastructure for Tenerife cannot come out as a result of discussions between parties. In fact, to avoid all this debate we have presented in Congress, with our parliamentary group, this same motion to be dealt with in the Transport Commission, which is where this can really be decided”.
-In this regard, why did you decide to register this NLP in Congress for the promotion of a railway network in Gran Canaria and Tenerife?
“It would simply be about starting the procedures to include the trains in a registry, that means absolutely nothing, it is that they are in that registry to be eligible for financing, but there is still a long way to go… Curiously, at no time, neither PP nor CC, which was governing until 2019, worried about this procedure, and now it seems that they have been rushed simply to seek confrontation. The debate right now in Tenerife is sterile, because that is not where it is really decided, but rather in Congress and for this reason, in order to be useful and to be able to advance this administrative procedure, we have presented this same motion in Madrid, so that it is there where be discussed”.
-Regarding the extension of the tramway to the airport, has the consultation started and it seems that it was going to resume?
“This query is pending to be reactivated, we have been working on the design of the methodology and we will see when it can arrive. It is not a simple job, but it has to be done with great meticulousness, for which two companies have been contracted, and as soon as all the material and methodology are ready, it will start up. Interestingly, CC has said no to the expansion of the tramway to Los Rodeos. We should not make politics with aspects that are important enough to be playing sterile confrontations. The tramway, the southern train, as well as the BUS-VAO lanes and the infrastructures, are all necessary to solve the serious problem we have on the Island, where we have had a collapse on the tracks for more than 20 years and nothing has been done. done nothing”.
-What projects would you highlight for this 2022 in the areas of Mobility and Roads?
“The most notable thing is to finish off relevant infrastructures, such as the burying of the TF-24, the Esperanza highway, which is well advanced and will probably be finished in the summer; the Padre Anchieta catwalk, which would be practically finished by the end of this year; and very important, we already started with the work of the bus lanes. Already this week the first section between Las Chumberas and La Laguna was awarded, and we continue with the other projects, and that is going to be a factor that is going to contribute a lot to making public transport much more attractive because it will be much faster. than the car. We have put Tenerife into operation, and now it is only a matter of time before all those projects that we have launched come into operation”.
-And how are the conversations going with the Government for the financing of the third rail between Guamasa and Los Rodeos?
“We have had a meeting addressing this, whether the agreement that had been signed at the time was still in force or not. An agreement that had no modifications, which had been signed for 6,180,000 euros when the project was increasing in price every time it was modified, until reaching almost 55 million. We are seeing with them who will execute it, and then see which sections, because that section comes from before the decision to build the La Laguna bypass was made, and that means that the Guamasa interchange would not be done because it would be conditioned to the bypass. And not only the financing is important, but it is also that a project that lacked environmental impact studies had been announced with great fanfare, and that is something very serious, and we have already commissioned it and right now it is in the Ministry of Transition Ecological”.
-And what are the most important projects in the Innovation area?
“Innovation is one of the most important areas we have, because we have already launched the Innovation Master Plan, to seek an economic sector that is complementary to tourism. We have just been at the Transfiere forum in Malaga, making contact with many companies and also working with the Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain. And because of the good work we are doing in Tenerife, we have been chosen as the organizers of the next international conference”.