The Minister of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary IslandsJosé Antonio Valbuena, points to the Adeje City Council as responsible for the situation in which the Cuna del Alma tourist project is located, in the little port of Adeje. In his opinion, the Adejero City Council is the administration that should indemnify the developer company, Segunda Casa Adeje SL, provided that the file that keeps your department open concludes that the Municipal Corporation granted the license without counting on the environmental impact study.
Valbuena spoke yesterday before the microphones of various radio stations on the Island. His message coincides with the one he transmitted in the publication of EL DÍA last Wednesday. In defense of the actions of the area that he manages in the regional Executive, he explained that both the Environmental Impact Law and the old Land Law require a simplified environmental impact study for “holiday developments outside urbanized land”, such as the case of Cuna del Alma, in the Puertito de Adeje.
“You don’t have to look for the shortcut to go faster, but the one that is most guaranteed”
This is not a trivial aspect. Its relevance in the thesis defended by the Minister of Ecological Transition is reflected in the insistence with which Valbuena states that, “since it is a simplified study” the “competent” environmental body is the Adeje City Council. With this premise, “it would have to assume eventual compensation” to the promoter company, for having “caused damage” to the company by issuing an administrative act, which in this case is the granting of a license, without complying with all the requirements.
This question is seen as fundamental in the future of the file opened by the Government of Canary Islands. Valbuena has affirmed that if said procedure had been carried out, something that “would not have been complex”, he has qualified, “we would not be at this point”. And he has issued a warning when, straight away, he states that “in the Canary Islands it is very important that any investor knows that in environmental legislation you do not have to look for the shortcut to go faster, but the shortcut that is more guaranteed.”
An aspect on which he continued to insist: «Environmental legislation must be complied with in the defined line, however tortuous it may be. There are no shortcuts”, stressed the Minister for Ecological Transition, the Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning, referring to the plot issue of the “legal uncertainty” that is generated by these files and the possible “leakage” of investors in the Canary Islands.
doubt everything
The Ministry that manages José Antonio Valbuena proceeded, on Thursday, 10, to the precautionary stoppage of the works corresponding to the Cuna del Alma tourist project, due to the presence of the protected viborina triste plant. A botanical report commissioned by the Cabildo de Tenerife limits its presence to 8,605 square meters, 2% of the 437,000 covered by the Cuna del Alma tourism project. In fact, authorized sources have explained that the promoter will request authorization to resume work on 96% of the land without any damage (there is another 2% subject to suspension due to the existence of archaeological remains, some affected).
This purpose of the promoters of Cuna del Alma to resume work on 98% of the land, José Antonio Valbuena chose yesterday to insist on the lack of the environmental impact study. He explained that this document must carry out a “rigorous” analysis of all the plant species present and thus avoid “damage that is impossible or difficult to repair.”
The counselor has admitted that he does not have the data on whether the sad snake is in “more or less” 2% of the surface of the project. At the time, he has indicated that the study process is complex, since it is conditioned by “the life cycle of the plant species”. “The problem” in the case of the sad snake is that it cannot be transplanted “like a palm tree,” and he has denied that the discovery of this species was used as an “excuse” to paralyze the project on a precautionary basis.
Aware of the debate sparked around this work since the celebration of the protocol act of laying the first stone, on May 5, Valbuena has admitted that around Cuna del Alma there is “a debate about the model of occupation of our coastal spaces ». An issue in which he, he has assured, does not enter. However, he clarifies that the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning has acted based on a complaint that exposed the presence of the sad snake and the absence of the environmental impact statement.
The Adeje City Council and the Cabildo de Tenerife participated in the process that authorized this project, the construction of which has been halted half a year after the start of the work and without any opposition during the process for its approval, after the September 26 In 2014, the Plenary of Adejero began the process to modify the planning of the moment.
the tile
The controversy replaces the one generated with the construction of a hotel around La Tejita. Yesterday, the counselor Valbuena has confirmed that the project is stalled after having made a demarcation as a result of which and with the land that would be available to occupy it, the promoter “seems that the investment is not profitable.” He has also indicated that it is up to the Granadilla de Abona City Council to determine what to do on the land that has been liberalized and, in the event that the promoter definitively renounces the project, it will be necessary to avoid “a skeleton remaining.”
Chronology
2014
- On September 26, 2014, the Adeje plenary decided to modify the planning in the field of development of the Cuna del Alma tourist complex. It was about undertaking the Development Plan of El Puertito de Adeje.
2019
- In 2014 the development of the Cuna del Alma project began. The Belgian families Vandermarliere and Van Biervilet are its promoters and they conclude it five years later, in 2019.
May 5, 2022
- Three years of paperwork passed without any allegations being made against the project, although there was much talk in the town about it. It was last May 5 when Cuna del Alma became popular, with the act of laying the first stone.
May 23, 2022
- The Tegüico association files a complaint with the Cabildo de Tenerife assuring that archaeological remains are destroyed during the work. On the 30th, the administration paralyzes 2% of the jobs, where it stops them permanently on June 28.
July 22, 2022
- A group of activists started a camp on July 22 calling for the complete stoppage of the construction of the tourist complex. On the 28th of the same month, several of the activists chain themselves to the excavators used in the work.
August 31, 2022
- Upon confirming that there are affected engravings and destroyed archaeological remains, the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the regional government opens a file and proposes a sanction of 600,000 euros to the promoter, Segunda Casa Adeje, SL.
September 2022
- On September 21, the Deputy Minister of Ecological Transition, Miguel Ángel Pérez, stated in the Canary Islands Parliament that “to this day” the project “can be done because it meets the requirements of strategic environmental planning and evaluation.”
November 2022
- Ecological Transition orders the precautionary stoppage of the works of the Cuna del Alma tourism project, due to imminent threat of environmental damage to protected wild flora. It does so after noting the presence of the protected plant viborina triste (Echium triste). It also investigates whether it lacks an environmental impact study.
