In the coming weeks, the Arona City Council will have two million euros that the central government will approve from the 2022 General State Budget. The objective is to promote the regeneration and rehabilitation of Los Tarajales beach, one of the areas with the highest value and potential of Los Cristianos, which has suffered significant environmental degradation in recent decades. The mayor of Aronoa, José Julián Mena, signed the agreement with the Ministry for Ecological Transition on Friday for the transfer of these funds, which are registered.
The municipal government maintains that this step culminates the process that began in October 2021, with the approval by the Plenary, with the favorable vote of all the political groups, of the initiative to promote the regeneration of the Bay of Los Cristianos with the recovery of Los Tarajales beach.
The signed agreement contemplates that the Arona City Council be the administration that prepares the works project and that makes possible the bidding and execution of the works. This entire process must be completed by the Consistory before December 31, 2026, although it may be extended for two more years. The municipality, for its part, will be able to complete the resources that are necessary in the event that the work involves a greater expense, both with its own funds and from other public institutions.
The money comes from the General State Budget of the current year
The population of Los Cristianos will play an important role in the regeneration of Los Tarajales beach. This is what the government of José Julián Mena announces. To do this, it will carry out a process in which citizens “will have an active role in the final project, with the participation of ecological and environmental groups, so that the regeneration process is sustainable and capable of withstanding the effects of climate change and the rise in the tides”.
The works of the first phase of this road ended in 2020 and required an investment of 2.5 million euros, money from the Arona City Council itself and the Cabildo de Tenerife.
Until the construction of the Port of Los Cristianos, Los Tarajales beach was an area with abundant natural sand deposited by currents, a situation that was altered and has led to a continuous accumulation in areas such as the pier itself or the beach de Los Cristianos, from where it is required to be withdrawn periodically mechanically.
To regenerate this environment, andn 2008, a project was approved that had the mandatory environmental impact statement, but the General Directorate of the Coast and the Sea, the entity that had to provide it with a budget, tender it and execute it, did not carry out said action.
an expired initiative
On September 4, 2018, the mayor of Arona, José Julián Mena, presented to the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, the beach, the promenade and the surroundings, as well as the possibilities offered by this area. He did so during an official visit made by the person in charge of the tourism portfolio to this area of the municipality.
On September 19, 2009, the Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs announced that, through the General Directorate for Sustainability of the Coast and the Sea, it would invest 26,487,084 euros in the environmental recovery of the beach and in the reform of the Los Tarajales promenade. Among the planned actions was remodeling the 850 meter long promenade. To do this, it would include paving, urban furniture, landscaping and other elements for public use; recover the soil necessary to create a space open to the sea; the environmental recovery of the 650 meter long beach, the construction of dikes and the contribution of sand. Added to this is the increase in the reception capacity of a coastal cove to, as a whole, recover the beach of Los Tarajales that sand was available for more than 40 yearsfacilitating the stay and bathing of many users.
The project would gain a public space with continuous use for playful and leisure activities in all seasons of the year, configuring an authentic social place of leisure and health. All this in a context in which those environmental measures (preventive, corrective, etc.) that would make the action environmentally compatible would be applied.
On April 12, 2013, the Environmental Impact Declaration was approved, a resolution of the Secretary of State for the Environment whose validity expired on December 12, 2019. Therefore, the project ceased to be valid. Now it is resumed from the starting point with a new project.
This agreement is parallel to the bidding and execution of the repair work that will be carried out on Paseo de Los Tarajales. This enclave was affected by the waves for more than two years, so the repair work can be undertaken after all the political parties that make up the municipal Corporation support the provision of resources to ensure the cost of the work.
