The government team of the Cabildo, formed by PSOE and Ciudadanos (Cs), show their firm support for the Motor Circuit project, planned for Atogo (Granadilla), representatives of the sports sector on the island. Some fifty people listen to the political and technical arguments of the island president, Peter Martin, and the vice president, Enrique Arriaga. Both announce that, after the rejection of the last plenary session, they will once again take the item of 5.7 million euros to the plenary ratification on the 27th – this time separated from the rest of the investments of the remaining treasury – to start some works that they hope will be reality before the end of the year. They ask for the favorable votes of the CC and PP, “who have always supported the infrastructure” and rejected it on the 4th.
Pedro Martín highlights the The importance of allocating this year the necessary economic allocation to begin the works in an initial phase that corresponds to the accesses from the north, the track, the paddock and the channeling of ravines. He hopes that the political groups in the opposition will support the proposal so that the works can start and “a demand for many years on the Island” can be met.
The event takes place in the Auditorium of Tenerife and has the representation of teams and clubs, car and motorcycle federations, karts and athletes from the motor world. The meeting details all the processes that have been followed around the circuit, which began in 1990 with the signing of the drafting of the project. For years they have been paralyzed. In this mandate, it has been taken up again to go from an idea or a draft “to the roadmap to make it a reality”.
Martín and Arriaga explained the pending actions and those that have already started. They provide specific deadlines and the necessary investments. Enrique Arriaga indicates that “work has been done to make this infrastructure requested for decades by the motor world in Tenerife a reality; As a result of this effort, the approvals of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) have been obtained”.
Tourist attraction
The Minister of Roads, the area on which the Motor Circuit depends, adds that «We will continue to take the steps so that Tenerife has this infrastructure which, in addition to being an incentive to increase the practice of these sports in a safe area and of first level, it would be a tourist attraction for the Island». Arriaga reveals that this circuit “will be one of the few in the world in which it turns counterclockwise.” It will have eleven left-hand corners and five right-hand corners. Maximum speeds of 320 km/h and minimum speeds of 95 can be reached by car. And on motorcycles of 315 and 80 km/h, respectively.
Also participating in the forum, among others, were the island director of Highways, Tomás García, the president of the Canarian Automobile Federation, Benito Rodríguez, the one from Tenerife, Francisco Negrín, and the one from Canarian Motorcycling, Vicente González.
Questions spark discussion. From the possibility of demonstrating in support of the Circuit, an option that Pedro Martín tempers, to the resounding affirmation that “there will not be a third time in plenary session” because “we do not contemplate rejection and if it occurs, others will have to be accountable to the citizenry” . They also disputed the initial 200,000 euros requested by the Canary Coalition “a ridiculous amount, to divert attention” or the medium voltage power station claimed by the PP that is “unnecessary at this stage.”
Sí Podemos Canarias, an external partner of the government, proposes “acquiring housing with the five million instead of wasting public money on the unnecessary Motor Circuit.” Will vote against.
