The mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermúdez, and the president of the Provincial Federation of Construction Entities, Óscar Izquierdo, with the councilors for Strategic Projects and Finance, Juan José Martínez, and for Works and Infrastructures, Dámaso Arteaga, and with attended by about twenty business associates of the employer’s association, yesterday reviewed various works and projects in different phases of execution in this capital, both representatives stressing the need for the Government of the Canary Islands to promote and respond to road needs that facilitate the mobility and accessibility in the city.
Both Bermúdez and Izquierdo, at the end of the meeting, emphasized the need for strategic works on the Island, which “inevitably pass through Santa Cruz”, to have their auction in the metropolitan area, citing the island ring as an example, ” that if it is not closed by this capital, it will only be a horseshoe ”, admitted the president of the employers’ association. To this, the mayor added that he lacks “planning by other administrations to prepare this city in terms of infrastructure of general interest, which must respond to the challenges of a new city on the land of the Refinery or the accesses to the city”.
Among the needs pointed out by the mayor, one of the most important, in his opinion, “does not have a project and is not even being drafted”, Bermúdez referring to the separation of port traffic from the rest of the circulation at the entrance and exit to the Port at the height of the Auditorium. “It is the Government of the Canary Islands that is responsible for executing this work, in which either by burying traffic, or any other solution they provide, it manages to separate the trucks from the port, which slows down the circulation of the rest of the vehicles.”
Bermúdez also made reference to the Ofra-El Chorrillo road, “about which the only thing we know is that the project is being drafted and has been like this for years.” And in relation to the Cornisa road, “it is neither there nor expected”. From Fepeco, its president did not miss the opportunity to praise the management of the current government team. “Santa Cruz has been working for some time on a constructive model of public recovery works that takes rehabilitation, accessibility and sustainability into account, precisely what the European Union establishes to support the different projects.”
regeneration plan
He also highlighted the low fiscal pressure, “with the lowest ICIO in Spain”, adding that “we must thank this City Council and its highest councilor for the regeneration plan undertaken both from the point of view of the asphalt paving and the different actions in housing rehabilitation and maintenance.
Bermúdez recalled that “we are facing the largest number of works in history in the municipality, the largest number of paving in all districts, to which are added maintenance works on roads and streets.” In addition, he added that “if these investments in works are added to the rehabilitation of buildings via ARRU, the construction of new homes, or the recovery of historical heritage, with an unprecedented plan of more than 30 million, the impulse to construction is unstoppable”.