A look at the reality of the south of Tenerife, contrasted with municipal representatives and economic and social agents, allows us to draw a half-constructed map of a region that, due to its powerful tourism muscle and its capacity to generate employment, demands “more attention” and “another gear” when it comes to promoting large pending projects.
The population growth experienced by the southern part of the Island – there are municipalities that have increased their population by more than 200% in the last 20 years – has exceeded the forecasts of public administrations. It is enough to take a look at the situation of educational centers (up to 14 localities suffer a “collapse” in the classrooms, as DIARIO DE AVISOS published yesterday) to verify that six municipalities in the South make up the “red zones” due to overcrowding established by the Government from the Canary Islands.
There is a lack of educational centers, but also to modernize some of the existing ones. The exception to this year has been the opening, finally, of the long-awaited Parque La Reina institute, which has replaced the Guaza barracks.
In terms of health, the Hospital del Sur has registered notable progress in recent years, although it is still far from being that large fully equipped center that can be compared with hospitals in the metropolitan area. Currently, the construction of a building is expected to increase its surface area to 47,000 square meters, following an agreement reached between the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo of Tenerife.
AIRPORT
The comprehensive remodeling of the South airport is another of the great pending issues. AENA has included its reform in the DORA III (Airport Regulation Document that plans investments from 2026), but the project arrives late in the opinion of institutional representatives and businessmen, who remind the state entity that Tenerife South “is at the forefront in profitability and at the bottom in innovation.”
The industrial port of Granadilla remains unfinished and without providing the service that was expected at this point. More than five years have passed since the then President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, inaugurated, in March 2018, the outer dock and contradam, which continue to offer an image that, for the moment, does not correspond to the expectations of the energy hub. clean that the port aspires to be, in line with future measures to decarbonize maritime transport.
The traffic queues in the South, which test the patience of thousands of motorists every day, are another issue that reveals the lack of road planning. Business sectors are asking that work on the false tunnel of the TF-1 between Playa de Las Américas and Fañabé begin as soon as possible (a project already awarded for 90 million euros) and that work on the third lane between San Isidro and Los Cristianos be execute “immediately”, especially in one of the great bottlenecks of the region such as the section of the highway between Oroteanda and Los Cristianos.
Another pending action in terms of traffic is the construction of the Los Cristianos Interchange, a project considered “urgent” and which will allow different types of transport to be combined, in addition to creating a large parking area.
In September, the Cabildo awarded the services contract for the drafting of the project, as well as for the burial of Chayofita Avenue for an amount of almost 500,000 euros. They are two strategic actions that will improve mobility in an area where the high volume of port traffic and the space limitations of the aronero dock take their toll.
An example of a project that has been running aground for years and is still waiting to see the light is the fire station in the southwest of Tenerife, more than necessary to provide security to the area of the Island with the greatest tourist expansion and greatest population growth. .
The regulation of vacation rentals, a tourist modality that has skyrocketed rental prices in coastal and mid-country areas, is another of the issues that most worries in the South. Prices are sky-high, to the point that workers in the tourism sector are forced to sleep in caravans, vans and substandard housing, as this newspaper reported last Sunday.
The Ministry of Tourism has already gotten to work and, after closing the public consultation on the future Sustainable Planning Law on November 26, in which 5,400 allegations were collected, it will now prepare the draft of the law, so that At the end of January I entered the Parliament of the Canary Islands.
Finally, business sectors demand greater administrative agility on the part of public institutions, especially city councils. They regret the “tortuous” processing of projects, which on many occasions are slowed down when it comes to granting construction licenses.
