The landscape of the capital of Tenerife is being transformed in a more than notable way in recent weeks due to the progress that has taken place due to the announced dismantling of the Refinery that the Spanish Petroleum Company, Sociedad Anónima (Cepsa), opened nearly a century ago in places that, at that time, were located on the outskirts of Santa Cruz of Tenerifeand that formed an industrial and social fabric that deeply marked this city and its inhabitants throughout this time.
Now, saying goodbye to these facilities translates into a formidable opportunity for the expansion of a city until now constrained by geographical reasons, and which it is intended to take advantage of with the municipal project for this purpose, called Santa Cruz Verde and which hopes to become a reality from 2030.
Although they are not the first works to be removed from the Refinery, the truth is that there are few symbols more recognizable to the chicharreros than the fuel tanks located in an area that is clearly visible from its entrance from the south, and that these days have attracted popular attention due to the progressive advance of the pickets.
This entire process is carried out under the mandatory licenses granted by the City Council, as explained to this newspaper by the company itself and municipal spokespersons.
Specifically, so far there have been three licenses issued so as not to hinder the demolition plans, and they are the following: the first corresponds to the dismantling of the unit known as Merox and the cooling tower.
The second license, whose execution corresponds to the present, involves the dismantling of crude oil tanks 508, 509 and 510, while the third includes the dismantling of the visbreaker, hydrodesulfurization 1, Cotesa, Thermal Power Plant and demineralization plant units.
As detailed at the time by the CEO of Cepsa, Maarten Wetselaar, “once the interventions of the first phase have been completed [en referencia a la Merox y a la torre]the following will be addressed [la actual]focused on the environment where the crude oil storage tanks are located.”
“The launch of a new storage park in the Port of Granadilla,” Verselaar continued, “for which Cepsa already has an administrative concession and which is expected to become a reality in 2025, along with greater use of other facilities which the company already has on the Island, will allow the start of the work of this second phase, which will entail the complete dismantling of the remaining Refinery equipment and the voluntary remediation of the soils. This last phase – he added – will give the green light to the construction process of the city’s new green space, which will mark a milestone in the sustainable development objectives of the agendas of the competent administrations involved and of Cepsa.
For its part, the City Council has specified to this newspaper that the aforementioned three licenses are the only ones that Cepsa has requested for now in this regard.
Historical
It was on September 26, 1929 when Cepsa was established, which initially had concessions in Venezuela and, just a year later, planned the creation of its “Tenerife” Refinery to provide access to these and future concessions where the company would increase its stake. The chosen area was far from being part of the urban center of Santa Cruz in the 1930s, given that to get there you had to walk along paths flanked by the existing banana plantations where the Avenida de los Reyes Católicos is now located. or a good part of the La Salle neighborhood.
The opening of the Refinery was a milestone for Santa Cruz society, as it was the implementation of the most relevant industry known until then in the entire Canary Islands. It is estimated that, in its moments of greatest splendor, some 1,700 families progressed thanks to the salaries generated both directly by the employees hired by Cepsa and by the businesses that emerged on the Island in relation to the different products derived from refining.
To all this we must add the advantages of the food and textile commissaries created in favor of the Refinery workers and, as if that were not enough, Cepsa invested in the construction of neighborhoods such as Buenos Aires, to provide decent housing. to the employees who lacked them at a time when shantytowns reigned in Los Llanos and El Cabo.
But time passes, and what was the first refinery to come into operation in Spanish territory ended up degenerating into serious problems for coexistence, since its facilities, which covered some 500,000 square meters, ended up integrated into the urban core and contaminating the air that the neighbors breathed, despite the fact that the improvements implemented in the 1980s significantly reduced the harmful effects of such proximity.
In 2018, the complete closure of the Refinery was agreed, which gives way to the greatest regenerative progress of the Tenerife capital in recent centuries, and which in reality has already begun with the recovery of the land where the Cabo-Llanos neighborhood is located today.
Bermúdez: “We are already working on Santa Cruz Verde 2030”
In the history books it will be noted that the current mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Jose Manuel Bermudezwas the one who promoted from the City Council such a notable transformation of the capital as the goodbye to the Cepsa Refinery.
In statements to NOTICE DIARYBermúdez revealed that “we maintain direct contact with the Government of the Canary Islands and with the Island Council in the idea of working together on the urban proposal that we are going to make for the organization of this area of expansion of the city, the future Santa Cruz Verde from the year 2030 onwards.”
Asked about the current process, the mayor of Santa Cruz explained that “the dismantling and decontamination of the Refinery land continues to occur according to Cepsa’s proposals, its own dismantling plans, and the decontamination plan approved by the Government of the Canary Islands.” In this regard, Bermúdez stressed that “we are working together to expedite all the licenses that Cepsa requests to remove any unit.”
