The Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Mobility of the Government of the Canary Islands and the Tenerife Island Council are jointly promoting the project of the fishing, sports, commercial and tourist port of Puerto de la Cruz. Its processing is pending on a supplementary report being prepared by the island authority on marine species, a preliminary step before drafting the environmental impact assessment.
The Minister of Public Works, Housing and Mobility of the regional government, Pablo Rodríguez, defended yesterday, in the parliamentary session, the commitment of the regional government to the development of this project. “This project represents a historical demand of the population in the north of Tenerife and has an extensive history that has had to address conditions imposed by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, as well as the change in category from a general interest port to a sports port to allow its management to be carried out by the Council,” he recalled in response to a question from the deputy and mayor of La Orotava, Francisco Linares.
Impact on marine fauna
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Pablo Rodríguez explained that the project is awaiting “the issuance of a supplementary report, which must be carried out by the Tenerife Island Council, on the study of the population of cetaceans, turtles, and other protected marine species, to assess the project’s effect on marine biodiversity, with the aim of continuing the procedure and obtaining the Ministry’s favorable report to progress with this project”.
Obstacles
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The project dates back to 2018, but in 2021 the Directorate General for the Fight against Climate Change and the Environment of the Ministry for Ecological Transition declared the file null and void. Last October, the Canary Islands government sent new documentation to the Directorate General and restarted the process. On February 5, the regional government received the report from the Deputy Directorate General for Terrestrial and Marine Biodiversity which, among other things, examines the population of cetaceans, turtles, and other protected species to assess the project’s effect, which was then submitted to the Tenerife Island Council.
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While Linares mentioned that “those of us who live in the North are still waiting to see the shovels so that a much-desired project by all can begin, Rodríguez pointed out that this is a project “necessary for the north of Tenerife and for the Canary Islands”.
