The Santa Cruz de Tenerife City Council has appointed Gesplan, the entity responsible for Territorial and Environmental Management and Planning, to develop the construction project and explore alternative options for constructing a two-storey underground public parking facility with a capacity of 600 vehicles. The parking will be located on San Isidro Street and part of the basement of the Almeyda barracks in the El Toscal neighbourhood, as announced by Carlos Tarife, the Councilor for Public Services.
Tarife mentioned that “the drafting of the construction project will commence to determine the total cost of the project. Since it falls outside the Low Emissions Zone (ZEB), it will receive funding from the European Union for its implementation.”
Though there is no fixed timeline for the commencement of the works yet, which will be set once the project development is completed, and the contracts are put out for tender, Tarife emphasized that “there is already a positive response from the General Directorate of the Ministry of Defense to allocate a portion of the military land for the future public parking. Once the City Council receives the completed project, it will be submitted to Defense for review, analysis, and approval.”
The mayor highlighted that with the land transfer from the Army, “we will be able to construct a parking facility on San Isidro Street and utilize the basement of the Almeyda barracks, a request that the City Council has been advocating for over two decades.” He further underlined that “efforts need to be made to begin the construction of this park and ride facility, enabling the progression of the Special Plan for the El Toscal neighbourhood and the pedestrianization of the surroundings.”
According to the Ministry’s report, the new car park cannot disrupt the operations of the units, organizations, and entities within the military premises. As a means to connect both parking lots, a corridor must be created beneath one of the existing buildings. Should any properties need to be demolished to accommodate the underground facilities, they must be reinstated, with the exception of the pharmacy which is a licensed laboratory and must remain operational.
In view of the security of the facilities, Defense requests the Council, along with the companies responsible for constructing and managing the parking facility, to engage in close collaboration and coordination with the Security Headquarters of the military base. Once the construction commences, access from San Isidro Street, both vehicular and pedestrian, will be temporarily closed, and an interim access point will be arranged, with traffic management, from the Rambla.
