five families who have their only home there have broken the seal imposed by the Güímar Town Hall in Las Bajas once it was known that they skipped the eviction imposed in March 2021 to carry out emergency works on a slope located in the Güímar tunnels of the TF-1.
Some works with shotcrete and metal mesh that were theoretically going to last four months – this is what the City Council promised the residents – and which were stopped, with 85% of the work completed, five months after they started, due to the extra cost of the the same ones that Intervention and the Municipal Secretariat refused to pay. The approved budget was 342,000 euros and the company passed certifications of over one million euros.
That matter is in court today and the work has not been received, so the City Council maintains the seal of the area due to “imminent risk of collapse”, according to the request sent to the neighbors who “have dared” to return to their homes. houses despite the new no-entry signage imposed last week, in addition to the placement of New Jersey barriers to prevent vehicles from passing through the streets, as was done before at this work that has gone on forever.
The contracted work consisted of placing dynamic barriers, triple twist meshes and gunite or shotcrete to reinforce the slope. This was intended to solve the problems affecting this wall, which presents an imminent risk of high danger from atmospheric phenomena, as well as a high risk of falling. This was determined by the technical report commissioned by the municipal government and received on February 15, 2021. Both circumstances pose a threat to the integrity of the homes and people of Las Bajas, a transit passage between the coast of Agache and El Little port.
Ana, one of the neighbors who has returned to her home in Las Bajas. | YE
Las Bajas is a small town made up of about twenty houses and cave-houses (something similar to Bajo la Cuesta, in Candelaria) of which only seven were permanently inhabited. These seven families were rehoused in rental apartments paid for by the construction company, until it decided not to continue doing so after the work was stopped in September 2021. The City Council then committed to managing social rents for these families, but only with 500 euros per month, which did not cover all expenses.
“Today for less than 800 euros you cannot find a rental apartment either in El Puertito or anywhere in Güímar, because there are hardly any apartments for rent,” says Ana Hernández, one of the neighbors who has decided to return home with her children. 14 and three and a half years old. “I have my house here, I don’t want to go anywhere else, nor can I receive help from the City Council because I am already working,” she explains while she shows her home, acquired 17 years ago. “A stone has never fallen here, the only problems we have had are with the sea,” she points out. These homes are, in addition, subject to another eviction, this definitive one, if the Supreme Court does not finally agree with Costas, who are affected by a file of possessory recovery of the maritime-terrestrial public domain space, promoted by the General Directorate from the Coast to the Sea.
The mayor of Güímar, Gustavo Pérez, defends that “the City Council must apply security measures at all times, with the corresponding informative signage and warning.” He maintains that “there is no report that advises or authorizes the reopening of access to Las Bajas or transit through the place”, while “the work will remain stopped until the Justice rules on the file with the company.”
