Historic agreement in the Arona City Council to drive forward the new city of El Mojón, which will transform the south of Tenerife. The plenary session has given the green light this Tuesday, in an extraordinary session, for the final approval of the agreement with the compensation board – which brings together the landowners – for the development of the El Mojón Partial Plan, above Los Cristianos, the largest land reserve existing today in Canarias.
The support has been made possible thanks to the favorable votes of the Arona government group, formed by PP, Más por Arona and CC, to which the PSOE has joined. VOX abstained and the councillor of Nueva Canarias was the only one who voted against.
This new agreement will enable the municipal Government to take over the bulk of the basic infrastructure of the urbanization already built – streets, sanitation networks, electrical systems, pumping stations -, that is, the City Council will be responsible for maintaining this set of roads.
As a result, the Urban Planning department can start processing building permits for those projects that will be developed in this huge area of almost a million square meters, which will provide about 9,000 beds – between residential and tourist – to the heart of the most touristy area of Tenerife.
Panoramic of the lands of the Partial Plan of El Mojón, already prepared for urbanization as urban land. / Carsten W. Lauritsen
Two large parks are separate, which will occupy 52,000 square meters, and are pending environmental reports that have to be endorsed by the Government of Canarias. This is the formula chosen by the Urban Planning technicians to start developing a Partial Plan which, as Fátima Lemes (PP), Mayor of Arona, stated in this Tuesday’s session, will be “a before and after” in the southern municipality.
Two large parks are separate, which will occupy 52,000 square meters, and are pending environmental reports
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El Mojón finally receives a boost that seems, this time, definitive after residents and investors have been waiting for more than 30 years for its development, which was complicated by the complexity of a partial plan affecting a huge expanse of land, as well as by bureaucratic problems and political differences.
The million square meters reserved for the expansion of Los Cristianos, between Avenida Chayofita and the Hospital de Sur above the TF-1 motorway, will be a major boost for Arona. There is a lot at stake: more than one billion euros of public and private investments and over 4,000 direct jobs.
With a larger surface area than the town of Los Cristianos itself –10 square kilometers compared to 7 of this coastal area–, El Mojón has been designed to avoid the large population concentrations that characterize other parts of the south of Tenerife. However, no public housing constructions are planned.
Even so, the size of this area is such, equivalent to 140 football fields, that the increase in housing and hotel spaces is considerable. Out of the 8,634 total beds that will be incorporated into the municipality of Arona, 6,636 are residential – none initially for social housing – and 1,998 are for tourism. Many more could fit in, but the design of the Partial Plan has opted for low residential and hotel development coefficients.
The million square meters reserved for the expansion of Los Cristianos will be a major boost for Arona
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The Mayor of Arona applauded the efforts made by the Urban Planning department staff, led by Luis García (Más por Arona), to unblock a Partial Plan that the tourist town has been waiting for so long.
There was a significant reservation, as acknowledged by Luis García himself. The new city of El Mojón could further congest an already traffic-saturated area, the stretch of the Southern motorway (TF-1) between Playa deLas Américas and Guaza, if appropriate measures are not taken.
The Urban Planning official stated in an extraordinary session this Tuesday that their technicians are already working on finding solutions but urged the Government of the Canary Islands and the Tenerife Island Council to get involved as they have the main responsibilities in mobility. García announced that their party, Más por Arona, will bring a motion to the next session to urge these administrations to provide projects that prevent further saturation in the already existing traffic in the south of the island.
There’s a problem: El Mojón could further congest traffic in the South if measures are not taken to prevent it
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This crucial step to sign the agreement with the landowners comes after the Information Commission of Urbanism, Territorial Planning and Historical Heritage of Arona issued a favorable opinion on the agreement between the Arona City Council and the Compensation Board of the El Mojón Partial Plan.
The figures for this gigantic land area are staggering in the heart of Tenerife’s tourism. There is no Partial Plan of this magnitude prepared for exploitation in the Archipelago. Out of the 908,000 total square meters, 575,400 correspond to private developments –hotels, housing, commercial facilities, restaurants, cafes, gyms…– and 332,900 to public facilities. This public part, representing 36% of the total of the El Mojón Partial Plan, is what the landowners give up in exchange for obtaining exploitation rights in the different areas contemplated.
Skeleton already built in El Mojón for its imminent urbanization. / Carsten W. Lauritsen
The 70 private plots are intended for touristic, residential, commercial, and sports uses. Meanwhile, the public part will have a significant influence and has been designed with the intention of avoiding high population densities to provide residents and visitors with extensive recreational areas.
For example, the two large parks cover 52,800 square meters. Once inaugurated, these parks will become the largest among the tourist municipalities of Tenerife. Another 115,700 square meters are reserved for green areas. The roads, parking lots, and pedestrian areas will be spread over 120,000 square meters; educational facilities will have 11,400; public sports facilities, 15,900; and cultural facilities, 17,000 square meters, including an auditorium, in Arona Arena.
