The mayor of Los Realejos, Adolfo González, will face his first elections as a PP candidate next 28M, with the challenge of giving continuity to 12 years of absolute majorities with Manuel Domínguez at the helm. Among his objectives, the new pool, the recovery of La Gorvorana and the new General Planning Plan (PGO), “which has been waiting since November 2022 for the Canarian Government to issue a report.”
After 11 months in the Mayor’s Office, what is your balance?
Well, we make a positive balance. We have a team that was already cohesive, with extensive experience and that has continued all the projects that we were developing in the stage of Manuel Dominguez and that they have continued with total normality. I think that the residents have seen continuity in the local government, and that is essential when there is a change at the head of the Mayor’s Office. We have been able to comply with close to 80% of the government program that we presented four years ago, despite the Covidwhich stopped us all of 2020 and part of 2021. In the execution of the neighborhood plan we are also close to 80%, so I am quite satisfied with the team and with the result.
The rain marked the day of crosses and fires, has it been one of the most complicated days of the May Festival?
The celebration of the festival of crosses and fires was marked by water, but it is also true that it is not the first to occur. This year it was quite difficult to make decisions and in that we must, of course, be grateful for the willingness of El Sol street, El Medio street, the parish and the Department of Fiestas. In the midst of many problems, we knew how to find ourselves in the solutions and, in the end, it was possible to celebrate the fireworks display. We must, of course, be grateful for everyone’s capacity for dialogue to, above all else, put the general interest of the party.
At what stage of processing is the project for the new swimming pool and sports complex?
It is one of the projects on which we have been working intensively during this mandate, I am sure that it will go ahead in the next four years and it will be one of the projects that will lead the electoral program of the Popular Party in Los Realejos. The preliminary project is already drawn up and we are in the phase of contracting the drafting of the final project. We also have initial financing of 800,000 euros through an amendment presented by the PP, thanks to the efforts of Lope Afonso. So we will be able to finally announce the tender for the works of the new swimming pool and its sports complex at the end of 2024.
What happens with the expected recovery of the La Gorvorana mansion?
It is another of our flagship projects. This project is already drafted and has a global budget of 4.5 million euros. We have requested a subsidy from the Government of Spain, through European funds, and we have already obtained 1.8 million. In addition, we are in talks with the Cabildo to be able to have the financing at the end of this year and in 2024 to be able to tender the works. It is a project that has taken a year to draw up, but which has already received the approval of the Cabildo de Tenerife, through the Historical Heritage Unit and which, of course, is another of the priorities that we have set for the next term. in Los Realejos.
After the recovery of the house, the large regional auditorium will remain pending…
Yes. And here I want to make a paragraph. It is very important that there be a change in the government of the Cabildo de Tenerife. In this mandate we have played in a second or third division. I think that due to the initials of the PP, the City Council of Los Realejos has not been well treated. Having Lope Afonso as island president, we will be able to fight and demand for Los Realejos the financing that he deserves and that has not been given in recent years.
Are there plans to improve the connections with the TF-5?
We have held several meetings with the Cabildo Highway area and work is beginning on a route to connect, by means of a fast track similar to the one that connects Punta Brava with La Gorvorana, the La Higuerita roundabout with the industrial estate of La profit. It is one of the roads that is proposed in the future General Planning Plan. We have agreed to make as many planning and legislative modifications as necessary to expedite this work and, of course, it will be another of the priorities that we have set to solve the serious connectivity problem that Los Realejos has with the TF-5.
It is very important that there is a change in the government of the Cabildo de Tenerife
Do you rule out that the output can be recovered by The Board?
With that output we continue to give the rod. We have hired an external technical service from the City Council to help us propose another alternative that we will put on the table of the Cabildo de Tenerife. We have agreed to this with the Highway area, knowing that this insular government was not going to raise anything. And I still think that with the change of government in the Cabildo it could recover just as it was.
Why has the General Development Plan for Los Realejos not already been approved?
We have done all the homework: two initial approvals with all the modifications that have been required of us by the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo. This city council approved the last modifications on November 21, 2022, which were sent to the Government of the Canary Islands. Since then we have been waiting for a report from the regional environmental body. Six months have passed and we are still waiting for the Canarian Government to have that final report. They slow down the processing of this document again, despite the fact that we have insisted on the need for it to be approved.
Since when have you been working on that new PGO?
Well, work began the day after the Popular Party reached the local government, 12 years ago. In less than six months we began with the public processing, the consultation procedures, the meetings in the neighborhoods, the initial modifications, the response to allegations and amendments… We opened two consultation periods and we have also modified the document to adapt it to the regulatory changes of the Autonomous Community and the State. In just three months, for example, we adapted it to the Land Law. To this day, the ball of the PGO is on the roof of the Government of the Canary Islands.
Will the PGO make it possible to alleviate the lack of subsidized housing?
Yes, and it will also allow us to offer public land to build a day center for people with disabilities and their families, and also for the construction of social housing, which is one of the priority demands of residents who do not have a house where to live The current PGO already has bags of soil to promote a second basic health zone, since the current health center is saturated and we have spent years advocating that it is necessary, by population, to have a second health zone. In addition, it will allow us to build new roads in different neighborhoods of the municipality to also improve communications, create parking areas and, of course, encourage the construction of private and officially protected housing. There is demand and, in addition, we want to regularize and give legal certainty to those that are currently out of order. This PGO would also serve to expand the La Gañanía industrial estate and generate jobs; create six new green lungs in Los Realejos, and improve the conservation of natural spaces and historic buildings, since it would mean the definitive approval of the catalog of protected properties.
Is there a subsidized housing project underway?
We have already been awarded the construction of 20 new social housing in Los Príncipes, where families living in houses that are in poor condition will have to be rehoused. Predictably in the month of September, or at the latest in October, we will begin the works
Do you have information regarding the alternative lane project between Los Realejos and San Juan de la Rambla?
No. We have been informed by the media of the third rail of the TF-5 and regarding that performance we have no information either.
What stands out from the plate that accompanies you in your first elections as a candidate?
We present ourselves with a parity plank, with 50% women and 50% men. I am accompanied by new faces, professional people and an experienced block. In addition, we will have the opportunity for Laura Lima, our Town Planning mayor, to go on the lists for the Parliament of the Canary Islands together with Manuel Domínguez, and José Andrés Pérez will also be on the lists for the Cabildo, with Lope Afonso. I am very happy that Los Realejos will be so well represented in those institutions.
