He maintains that all the works are important, but there are some that have to be carried out more quickly due to the social needs of the municipality and its commitment to certain groups, such as the nursing home or the nursery school. However, it is involved in all projects, from social and cultural to those related to agriculture, such as the Los Barranquillos agricultural track, which will improve access to 26 agricultural plots.
When does the demolition of the old cinema begin to turn it into the future auditorium?
“This is going in phases since it is a long-term project. The first has already started, the old corrugated iron roof has been removed and the floor will be left empty to start building the foundations. The Gesplan project will arrive in May after having requested an extension and then what remains is to close the financing agreement with the Cabildo to continue. We are excited because the municipality lacks roofed spaces to host an exhibition or cultural events. In addition, it is to give life to the downtown area in a space that had been closed for the last 25 years and had been converted into a warehouse.”
-How are the works of the geriatric residence going?
“With financing from the Cabildo de Tenerife in 2020 and 2021, we have managed to tidy up the first two floors of the property, which will be the recreation and activity areas, and the ground floor, which will be used for the future dining room and laundry, which is finished . The agreement with the IASS for an amount of 2.5 million was taken to plenary session, which will allow the fifth phase to be completed, which has already begun”.
-How many seats will it have?
“At first it is very small. It will cover about 20 seats. We know that we are going to solve a problem but that it will be insufficient. With the Cabildo we are studying the possibility that in the framework of the Sanitary Infrastructure Plan with the Government of the Canary Islands we can have a larger residence in the future, with about 100 beds, located on the plots that the City Council has parallel to the Sports Pavilion. But the subsidiary regulations do not currently allow the use of these lands and that is why we are working on a substantial modification of that scope of action with the aim of changing it and installing the future residence”.
– Do you trust that it can be working next year or is there still?
“You must go”.
-Why are there elections?
“No, because it is my 100% commitment to the elderly, just as we have fought for that financing with the Cabildo to provide it with all the material it needs. I am the son of a sick person and I empathize with the problems that families have. It is a much-needed resource, especially after COVID, because this group has been greatly affected and their cognitive recovery is slower. That is why we have decided to open the senior citizens’ center with Acufade in the morning for cognitive stimulation and with the Government of the Canary Islands we have implemented ‘Acentejo Te Escucho’, a free telephone service to combat the loneliness of the elderly”.
-With so many urban changes, what is the Government waiting for to approve a General Plan?
“We’re on it. We have not stopped and our commitment is from minute one. We have permanent meetings with Gesplan and we discuss many things. The justification for the subsidy from the Government of the Canary Islands for the substantial modification of the subsidiary regulations has already arrived. We have opted for this, which is a simile of a general plan but the procedure is faster. Even so, the administration has its times and that is why we have carried out seven minor modifications in parallel that allow us to solve the most urgent problems of the neighbors”.
-The opposition reproaches you for endorsing an inherited project such as that of the library…
“My word is endorsed by going to the State Contracting Platform, where we have obtained a 9.73 transparency when we had a 3. There appears the new contract to the architect, which was the same as when the project began in 2009. Since then, the governments left the structure in the same conditions and it was necessary to update it, we had problems in the execution because a company did not comply and the works had to be put out to tender again. Eight years of CC-PP governments were useless because if we start to add up, the residence was not built but neither was the roundabout, the library or the nursery school. And in three of us we already have all the important projects underway”.
