The City Council of Santa Cruz, through the Department of Works and Infrastructures, under the responsibility of Dámaso Arteaga, has incorporated a budget increase of just over 250,000 euros to the amount initially planned for the reform and rehabilitation of the San Rafael and San Roque Cemeterywhich will result in an investment close to 800,000 euros, now incorporating improvements in the work units and in the elements that make up an action that has had to observe the Historical Heritage guidelines of the Cabildo de Tenerife, as it is a Cultural Interest (BIC).
The work, which began at the beginning of 2021, had to be stopped in April of that same year after it was detected that the access ramp that connected the two parts of the cemetery, the Catholic and the Anglican, had to be relocated. Now, a year and a half later, after reviewing the project and receiving the approval of Historical Heritage of the Cabildo, an intervention is resumed that incorporates new changes, in addition to the ramp.
The modifications have to do, among others, with the actions foreseen in the project initially approved for the Calvario chapel, in which the repair of its roof was included, “but, once the work began, it has been verified that the state of it makes its preparation unfeasible, making its demolition and subsequent reconstruction necessary”, explains Arteaga. In addition, he adds that “something similar has happened with the back rooms of the Catholic gate, where the repair of its roof was collected, but when the work began it was found to be unfeasible, so it will be demolished and reconstructed ” . Other elements that are modified with respect to the initial project is that, instead of replacing the pavement of the Anglican chapel, after verifying that the currently existing one is in a good state of conservation, a process of polishing it is proposed.
An addition with respect to the initial commission has to do with the opening of pedestrian paths, which were not contemplated in the budget, for which reason the necessary excavation is now being considered for the subsequent placement of the projected pavement, as well as the action on the enclosing wall, which is in a poor state of conservation and seriously damp in many sections of it, which is why the necessary rehabilitation works for the reconditioning of said sections are included.
On the part of the City Council, it is requested that the existing pavement of the laja chasnera cemetery paths be removed, palletized and transferred to a municipal warehouse, as well as the work in the back of the Anglican chapel, where some dependencies are located. that the initial project demolished, although the auxiliary means are now, due to the morphology and the degree of protection of the cemetery, carried out manually, loading and transporting the rubble, which supposes a considerable increase in time and cost that this project modified pick up.
On the other hand, in the execution of a ramp that connected both cemeteries, this was located in the original project at the furthest point from the access door to the cemetery and ran parallel to and attached to the enclosing wall. “Since these walls do not have a regular surface – clarifies Dámaso Arteaga -, it will be necessary to lower some areas of it to regularize it and be able to execute the ramp. For this reason, it was proposed to relocate it where the demolished buildings were located and thus take advantage of the excavation, locating the ramp at a more accessible point in the cemetery”.
Finally, the original project proposed the execution of the majority of the surface of the cemetery in continuous aripaq pavement, although, since the cemetery has a structure of well-differentiated paths, “now the use of said pavement in the area of paths is proposed. exclusively and in the rest of the surface, a decorative covering with aggregate”, explains the councilor, who ends by adding that “the project is also modified in relation to Low Voltage, since there is a budget reduction, and in the part of gardening and irrigation, where it is decided to keep the species in good condition”.
The rehabilitation will be completed over the next year
The mayor, José Manuel Bermúdez, makes it clear that “we hope that the works, whose layout was signed last week, will be completed by 2023, which is good news for the municipality and for the historical heritage of this capital ”. In addition, he added that “the cemetery of San Rafael and San Roque is a very unique element in the history of Santa Cruz and with this work of rehabilitation of an Asset of Cultural Interest like this, what we are trying to do is that the citizens can get to know it within of the cultural catalog of the city. An assessment with which Arteaga agrees, who highlighted the sum of items to complete the project.
