The plenary session of the Cabildo Tenerife approved this Friday two motions of the Nationalist and Popular groups, with the rejection of the PSOE and Sí Podemos and the abstention of Cs –member of the government team–, in which he requests the inclusion of the project of the south train in the railway network of general interest in order to access financing funds.
Both groups were also unable to carry out amendments to the whole.
In addition, in a joint debate with a Cs motion supported by all the groups and rejected by Sí Podemos, support has been requested for the construction and commissioning of the BUS-HOV lanes on the TF-1 and TF-5 and the defense of the Island Plan for Sustainable Mobility.
Both popular and nationalists criticized the grouping of the motions in the debate raised by President Pedro Martín and the PP spokesman, Manuel Fernández, recorded his rejection in the minutes because it was a “lack of respect” for the groups.
The nationalist spokesman, Carlos Alonso, has pointed out that mobility is a problem “of the first magnitude” on the island that requires social consensus, political leadership and management capacity.
He has said that “the majority” of the island’s population is in favor of the project “and increasingly strongly” and has lamented that the “obvious fragmentation” of the government group plus the external partner –Yes We Can– can stop its development.
Along these lines, he commented that Yes We Can threatens to break the pact, Cs “wants but can’t” and the PSOE “neither can nor wants to”.
Alonso has lamented that very little progress has been made in this legislature because not even steps have been taken to process the environmental impact statement and although he has supported the construction of the BUS VAO lanes, he has specified that “time has been wasted”.
He has indicated that the train now has an “important financing opportunity” and the Cabildo has to decide that, due to lack of support, all the funds will not go to the Gran Canaria project, where there is unanimity.
The nationalist spokesman has criticized the Socialists for “doing nothing” and “paralyzing the island” and believes that when they leave the government “people are going to forget” their management because they leave “no trace”.
The PP believes that the Government wants to “save their seats”
Manuel Fernández, spokesman for the Popular Group, recalled that the PSOE has voted in favor of the train in recent years in the Cabildo and in the Metropolitano, to which he joined the support of the Canarian president, Ángel Víctor Torres, and the Executive, who met a year ago to the two councils to promote the projects.
Along these lines, he lamented that the government group only wants to “save their seats” because there is unanimity in the Congress of Deputies and in the Parliament of the Canary Islands, but in the Cabildo the socialists “are taken by their partner.”
He has charged against the island president, Pedro Martín, because “he is still mute” with the train from the South but has urged him to remove “the rope” from Yes We Can and with the support of the PP, promote the large projects that the island needs in terms of what remains of the mandate.
“Tenerife cannot be kidnapped by any group,” he commented.
Javier Rodríguez, spokesman for the PSOE, recalled that the regional president of the PP, Manuel Domínguez, was against the project in 2015 and has called Alonso a “fickle and unstable” politician due to the “changes in position” throughout the mandate as if he were a “teenager”.
He has pointed out that mobility problems in Tenerife must be faced with a “comprehensive vision” and not focus exclusively on the TF-1 and the South train and for this reason the development of a sustainable mobility plan has been commissioned.
He has said that his group “is not against” the train from the South but the current context indicates that “it is not the right time”, stressing, however, that “the most relevant” is the vote that went ahead this Thursday in a committee in Congress.
The PSOE questions the “tacticism” of the opposition
Aarón Afonso, insular director of Coordination and Support to the President, has said that “tacticism” does not favor the debate on mobility on the island and has urged CC to inform the population that the southern territorial plan “has problems” and unfavorable reports from the Government of the Canary Islands.
The president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín, has only specified that the opposition has invented phrases and used the insular lawsuit to defend the motions, for which he has urged them not to “manipulate or misrepresent”.
María José Belda, spokesperson for Sí Podemos, has lamented that the position of Podemos has been defended in Congress by “a lady from Valencia” because the scarce Alberto Rodríguez “is empty” and unlike what the opposition proposes He maintains that the project does not have social support since environmental platforms have mobilized against it since 2008.
It has demanded a “real citizen participation” and of the 31 municipalities and that all the alternatives to the train be known, since a feasibility report on its economic and social impact is not yet known.
He has warned Arriaga that the train “is going to be decided on the island, not in Madrid” and has wondered how much land the project is going to consume, how many houses are going to be expropriated and how much employment is going to be created.
In front of the South train, he has said that public transport by bus is a priority.
Arriaga claims “high vision”
The Vice President of the Cabildo and Minister of Roads, Enrique Arriaga, has commented that a sustainable mobility plan is needed and to finish the planned infrastructures “for more than 20 years”.
It has also supported public transport “in all its modalities”, both the BUS VAO lanes, with the aim of going from 3 kilometers to 50 kilometers in this mandate, and the South train, although in this project it has requested that there is “consensus” because its execution will last several legislatures.
For this reason, he has asked all the groups to “look high” given that the train has already been supported in Congress and in Parliament.
Arriaga has blamed CC for the “paralysis” suffered by the island due to lack of planning and made the PP ugly because “they did nothing” when they governed the State.
In fact, he commented that the motions debated this Friday were “irrelevant” because Congress has already approved requesting financing, which is why he has questioned the “opportunism and tactics” of the opposition.
