The President of Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo (CC), has stated on Friday that there is no government file to buy the land where the La Tejita beach hotel is being constructed, in Granadilla (Tenerife), nor allocated funds in the community accounts to address this matter.
At the end of the meeting, Clavijo explained to reporters that the declarations made by the Mayor of Granadilla on Thursday are not accurate and that her request to “reverse previous government and council reports” related to the license is not correct.
The Canarian Government will continue to be open to discussions, as the responsibilities are clearly defined by law. Regarding La Tejita, it is up to the Granadilla Council to decide if they want to revoke the license granted to the developers of the project and to review the files as well.
The President of the Canarian Government criticised the Mayor for not attending the meeting – Miranda argued that she believed the meeting was going to be a “political facade” – suggesting that all technical reports were available to address the matter “seriously” and her absence, in his view, signals that “the intentions are different”.
Clavijo defended that it is not possible to “evade responsibility” and shift it to the Canarian Government and the Council, as it is the Granadilla de Abona Council that has developed the urban master plan and granted the license.
“And I ask myself: why not take it to the national government or the UN?“, the President quipped.
“Did the Canarian Government and the Council design the master plan (of Granadilla)? Did they plan that entire coastal area up to Los Abrigos, where there is classified land ready for construction because that’s what the Council wanted?”, he added.
The Mayor of Granadilla could have overturned it
Fernando Clavijo explained that if the Mayor of Granadilla had wanted to revoke the construction permit and reclassify the land, with the Land Law, she could have, as it allows for a change to rustic land “without having to pay a single Euro in compensation” and by bringing an agreement to the municipal council in that regard.
When asked what he would have told the Mayor had she attended the meeting, he mentioned that he would have shared the 2019 Coastal report, indicating that a section of the hotel would be in a restricted area, and discussions could have been initiated on “her willingness” to start negotiations with the developer.
However, he ruled out the possibility of the Canarian Government itself making the purchase, as the autonomous community “acquires land for schools, hospitals, essentially government infrastructures” and not to “prevent a hotel from being built that is licensed by the Municipality”.
“The Municipality must handle it, and we support and accompany them, but they can’t say ‘this is not my problem’ because the permit was granted,” he concluded.
Regarding the other project in question, Cuna del Alma, which affects the municipality of Adeje, he praised the willingness of its Mayor, José Miguel Rodríguez Fraga, to meet and highlighted that it has been “evidenced that its file meets all requirements, that the actions and licenses are in line with regulations, and compliance with the law prevails”.
He added that for this project they will have a company that, in coordination with the General Directorate of Heritage, will ensure the protection of the pre-Hispanic sites in the area, and this work will be “continuous”, so that once remains are detected, the work will stop.
