The Deputy Minister of Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands, Miguel Ángel Pérez, stated this Wednesday in Parliament that “today” the tourism projectCradle of the Soulin Puertito de Adeje, can be done because it meets the planning and strategic environmental assessment requirements.
Pérez replaced José Antonio Valbuena to respond on this matter in a parliamentary committee to the spokesman for Sí Podemos Canarias, Manuel Marrero, despite the fact that the counselor “does not shy away from any debate,” he clarified.
The deputy minister said that in this project, which is opposed by the environmental movements and Sí Podemos Canarias, it is as important to guarantee legal certainty “as everything else”, in reference to environmental protection, and in this case it is being developed on land urbanizable for forty years.
In any case, it is up to Parliament to change “the rules of the game,” he specified.
In this case, he recognized that Some of the species that are in the urbanizable sector are in the Canarian catalog of protected species and in the field of special protection, but it is neither in danger of extinction, nor is it vulnerable, nor is it in the catalog of protected species at the national level.
The project can be done because it meets the planning and strategic environmental assessment requirements, he said.
But he added that he cannot speak about the urbanization project “because the environmental evaluation powers of the project and the absolute processing of the entire environmental and territorial planning procedure correspond to the city council” or, in the case of protected natural spaces, to the councils.
“With what is sent by the Cabildo de Tenerife there are species that, due to their special protection, if you want to carry out an activity, you will have to carry out a series of conditions”, and on whether these conditions have been met “we have no information”, Perez continued.
The Natural Environment Protection Agency has opened an investigation and “we are at the expense of that investigation to find out if the procedure carried out by local administrations strictly complies” with the legislation.
Manuel Marrero said that his group places its trust in the Ministry so that the urbanization of Puertito de Adeje is paralyzed due to non-compliance with environmental requirements.
The spokesperson for Sí Podemos Canarias denounced that the Adeje City Council, with the favor or lack of diligence of the Cabildo, continues with “this private project of destruction of a protected part of the island of Tenerife”.