The Councilor for Mobility of the Cabildo, Enrique Arriaga, affirmed yesterday in plenary session that “at this moment there are no plans to restart the process” of the citizen consultation for the extension of Line 1 of the tramway to the Tenerife Norte-Ciudad de La Laguna airport , “since the Insular Sustainable Mobility Plan is studying the technical feasibility of other alternatives that could fulfill the same function, with fewer conditions and at a lower cost.”
Specifically, the counselor responded, to a question from the PP, that the island plan has begun to be drafted and “in the various meetings with the companies they told us that there are possibilities for other alternatives, we are not talking about the tram, but about other methods that they could arrive at the airport and we are analyzing them technically”. Reason why it has been decided not to restart the citizen consultation on the tram to first find out what other options are being considered “and then a decision will be made”.
Likewise, Arriaga indicated that in the accounts for next year “budget items have been included to draft projects, because there were none and at least to have them and so that the decision can be made, for Line 4 and the expansion of Line 2, then the decision that has to be made will be made but we are going to gain time ”.
On the other hand, the counselor, and also the president of Titsa, announced that in December a tender will be held for the acquisition of some 248 new buses, of which 171 will be hybrids, for an investment of 88 million and to be delivered between 2024 and 2025. To a question from CC, Arriaga replied that “we have not stopped working” so that free public transport, starting next January 1, “be viable.” He recalled the meeting, next Wednesday, with the Ministry of Transport, the Government of the Canary Islands and the councils to request more funds, and stressed that, “since the beginning of this legislature, the current subsidies of the Cabildo to public transport have multiplied by three, going from 34 million in 2018 to 105 million in 2023, 45 million more to face the free rate”.
Arriaga also responded to a question from Sí Podemos Canarias about advertising for lingerie on the tram, which they considered inappropriate. The counselor indicated that the content of the campaigns will be reviewed in case they fail to meet equality criteria, although he pointed out that initially nothing offensive has been observed or that there is no prohibition.
Distinctions
The island plenary session also unanimously approved the awarding of the Island’s Gold Medal to CD Tenerife, as well as initiating the file to award it to the official College of Physicians of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. In addition, it was agreed to start the file of honors and distinctions so that Blas Cabrera is posthumously recognized for his valuable contribution to the scientific and informative field of experimental physics.
Among the other motions approved as institutional, in a proposal by CC it was agreed to increase the budget of the Base 25 project to help families in housing emergencies; as well as allocate in 2023 the four million of its budget for the purchase of homes, which were not invested in the last year.
The Plenary also approved the new structure of the IASS and, in addition, at the beginning of the session the counselor Iván Jesús Martín (CC) took possession of his minutes.
