The government group of Arona is shown in favor of the Cabildo maintaining the powers over the Mirador La Centinela and that its facilities become “the sought-after natural and cultural interpretation center that both the academic and environmental fields have been calling for in recent decades.” It is “the most suitable option”, he points out.
Leopoldo Díaz, spokesman for the government team, recalls that in the meetings held in recent years with the council “the difficulties presented by the option of ceding the space to a single municipality have been highlighted, even though the facilities are, for the most part, in San Miguel de Abona.” In the opinion of the aronero councilor, this option faces “legal and jurisdictional difficulties when deciding on matters such as maintenance or investments” of and in the facilities.
“We are facing a unique opportunity to have a center in which the local population and visitors are disseminated, trained and educated” in heritage matters, adds the Councilor for Historical Heritage, José Alberto Delgado. The mayor emphasizes that «Arona has a great wealth of archaeological remains, especially engravings, but the reality is that in Tenerife, in general throughout the Island, there has been a lack of awareness of the need to preserve that wealth and value it, in addition to the acts of vandalism that we have been witnessing helplessly for years.
The Cabildo, owner of the facility, values giving the use and management of the viewpoint to San Miguel de Abona
Town hall work
The Mirador La Centinela is located in the Roque de Jama protected natural area, on land with which the San Miguel de Abona City Council acquired it in 1992 and which was subsequently ceded to the Cabildo, the administration that built it and which is the competent institution for maintenance and care.
Its commissioning took place years after the work was completed, at the beginning of this century, and required an investment for its improvement as it suffered serious damage. Until several years ago, the site functioned as a restaurant under an administrative concession. Last week, the first vice-president of the Cabildo de Tenerife and island councilor for Roads, Enrique Arriaga, held a working meeting with the mayor of San Miguel de Abona, Arturo González, after which he announced that the Cabildo values ”ceding the use and management of the facilities to the City Council». A transfer that is in line with what was demanded by the San Miguel government during this mandate.
