The UTE awarded the construction of the new pedestrian walkway for the Padre Anchieta roundabout has already begun work, on the Peninsula, on the manufacture of its modules and the forecast is that they will begin to arrive on the Island “during the first semester of 2023, to start assembling them ”, affirmed yesterday the Minister of Roads and Mobility of the Cabildo, Enrique Arriaga.
It should be remembered that the insular president, Pedro Martín, said at the beginning of this month that the Cabildo was “dissatisfied” with the delay in the works and that the UTE had been warned that if they did not solve the problems, they could open a file for terminate the contract.
In this sense, Arriaga recalled that the company requested “a six-month extension in the deadline for completion of the works, and what we have told him is that yes, but that there are penalties for delays in the delivery period” . “And in principle -he added-, it seems that it begins to comply with the new work plan that it has presented, and they have been providing us with documentation that they already had the materials and were already building the first modules. So, if you comply with the plan, you will have to pay some penalties, but you will meet the deadline for completion of the work, and if we see that there are deviations from that work plan, we will take other measures.” Even so, the counselor pointed out that the works are not paralyzed pending these modules: “They are already working at forced marches to make the settlements, the pavement of Trinidad avenue has been finished and now they are going to continue with the part de Geneto and the street that goes up to the Faculty of Biology, and they are also working on the square that goes there, and then they bring the modules and mount them on the supports”.
free
On the other hand, regarding the extraordinary plenary session requested by CC, and which will take place next Monday, to demand guarantees from the Cabildo that the free transport will be effective and of quality, Arriaga replied “on January 1 there will be free transport, That is clear, regardless of the fact that the game that CC has negotiated is insufficient. In this regard, he argued: “We have already put 60 million more in the budget to be able to face the part that falls to the Cabildo.” The counselor recalled that the meeting scheduled today between the Government and the councils with the Ministry of Transport “is to negotiate the compensation for the purchase of buses or the part that is missing for free”, although he pointed out: “The problems are not going to be solved that we are going to have all the operators in the Canary Islands, because it does not matter if there is money or not, the buses are not there, they are going to arrive little by little”. Arriaga remarked: “Surely we are going to have problems the first months, and as the buses arrive, we will relocate them to the areas with the greatest demand.”
Finally, the counselor pointed out that work is being done to “reach the hundred extra buses that we need to provide the service in 2023 in quality conditions.”