The plenary session of the Cabildo de Tenerife has approved this Friday a motion of the PP, amended by PSOE, the Canary Islands Coalition (CC) and Ciudadanos (Cs) and rejected by Sí Podemos and the non-attached counselor María José Belda, to ask the Government of the Canary Islands to expedite the processing of the project for the third lane of the TF-5 and the BUS-HOV lane and that the double tunnel on the El Sauzal curve be “prioritized” “if technically possible”.
The four groups also rejected an amendment of Sí Podemos in which they asked to stop the project to carry out a consultation process with citizens and those affected.
The project has already gone public for a value of 339 million, with a layout of 17 kilometers that affects six municipalities and a duration of the works of five years.
“It will not be a reality for another 10 years”
Manuel Fernández (PP) has admitted that “one of the big problems” in Tenerife is “mobility and queues” but he has not hidden that this project is in the “embryonic phase” and “it will not be a reality before 10 years”, also underlining his “electoral” desire on the part of the PSOE.
He has pointed out that “the people of Tenerife cannot continue to endure” the queues and while the work is being carried out “the traffic jams must be mitigated” but “without occurrences”, how to solve them in 90 days [en referencia a lo expuesto por la candidata de CC a la Presidencia insular, Rosa Dávila] or promoting the delay of the start of classes at the University.
However, he has valued “the majorities” achieved in the Plenary Hall to “unclog” Tenerife, which has been waiting for several decades for new highways as opposed to Gran Canaria, and does not understand how Sí Podemos asks to stop the project when the purple formation is part of the Executive.
Solve queues with “more asphalt”
María José Belda, a non-appointed director, has criticized that the mobility problems on the island are being resolved “with more asphalt” and that “economic blackmail” has been made to the University of La Laguna to delay schedules in exchange for 10 million euro.
It has demanded the construction of more sidewalks in many municipalities, especially in rural areas, more buses adapted for people with reduced mobility and reproached the groups for “facelifting” by asking for a BUS-HOV lane.
He has also warned of the problems that the works and the collapse of secondary roads will cause.
Arriaga (Cs) rules out a popular consultation
Enrique Arriaga, spokesman for CS, has commented that the problem of mobility is the “delay” in the construction of infrastructures and once finished, you can start to promote the use of public transport.
He has linked the delay of the layout project to some resources and now maintains that it should be “expedited as quickly as possible” in order to encourage buses and high-occupancy vehicles since the TF-5 would already have an exclusive third lane.
Arriaga has rejected a popular consultation because “the route is what it is” and he does not understand the proposals of two mayors since one of the “most serious problems” of the TF-5 are the links to access the road.
Two municipalities, against the project
David Carballo, from Sí Podemos, has defended an amendment to the entirety to “paralyze” the work since it “clearly affects” the territory and there are already two municipalities against it, Tacoronte and Santa Úrsula.
He has criticized “the haste and the way of acting” of the institutions due to the proximity of the elections, emphasizing that “the public does not understand it” and that there are councils that are already advising those affected because there will be expropriations and damage to farms. “More roads is not the solution”, she has indicated.
In this line, he has criticized that each kilometer of the new lane “costs 20 million euros” and has predicted that in the coming years there will be large empty highways because the private car model “is unsustainable” due to its high cost and the increase in price of the fuel
The spokesman for Sí Podemos has advocated improving school transport to avoid the use of private cars, holding a “real” citizen consultation and decentralizing some services such as toilets.
“Years waiting for the works”
Aarón Afonso (PSOE) has said that this project is “necessary” to improve mobility on the island, indicating that the northerners have been waiting “decades” for the extension of the TF-5 to avoid queues for what he understands that “the has debated” with the citizens.
He regretted that there was no mobility plan in the Cabildo [se encargó en 2021 y aún no ha finalizado] to determine the model of the island in the coming years and sees no “other solution” to implement a BUS-HOV lane than to create a third lane.
He has defended the “joint work” carried out with the Government of the Canary Islands in this mandate, especially to resolve the agreement that the Cabildo and the Government had signed to execute the BUS-VAO lane “with money from all the people of Tenerife” and also with a budget lower than the real.
Along these lines, he has reproached the nationalists for “infographics and press conferences” announcing works that have not been carried out and has shown his surprise at the opposition to the project of the mayor of Santa Úrsula, Juan Acosta, who is on the electoral list.
Carlos Alonso, spokesman for the Nationalist Group, has defended the agreement signed between the Cabildo and the Canarian Government of the past mandate because it has allowed many works to be carried out, including improving access to Padre Anchieta, and it could have built a third lane to Guamasa “which It would already be in use.”
His colleague Félix Fariña has indicated that any initiative to solve mobility “is welcome” but “it is not worth” joining now “because there are elections”, while recalling the historical commitments of his group for public transport, the improvement of the roundabout of Padre Anchieta or the parking lots.
He has criticized the delay in the project when its tender was scheduled for 2021 and hopes that there will be “absolute priority” on the part of the Government.
