The municipal government assures that Port of Cruz is the only municipality in the Canary Islands that completed the census of public and private facilities and locations with asbestos, according to a document from the Directorate General for Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands. The municipal area of Sustainable City conducted the study last December through an external company, which classifies buildings based on their risk level and proposes a schedule and deadlines for removal.
Councilor David Hernández explains that “we continue to take firm steps to improve the quality of life of the people of Port of Cruz, taking care of the environment and making our municipality more sustainable to make it more habitable.” The councilor of Portuense Citizen Assembly (ACP) ensures that the local government’s priority “is to look after the citizens and, although there is still a way to go, we continue with the strong conviction of improving our surroundings with actions like this, which allow the removal of materials potentially harmful to health.”
This census commissioned by the Council includes buildings, facilities, and locations with asbestos, both public and private, as well as water supply and sanitation networks, in addition to an assessment of their risk. This action corresponds to one of the obligations of municipalities set out in Additional Provision 14 of Law 7/2022, of April 8, on waste and contaminated soil for a circular economy. The preparation of this census by the municipality must be accompanied by a schedule that includes the planning of removal.
Both the census and the schedule, which will be made public, were sent to the competent health, environmental, and labour authorities of the Autonomous Community, as stipulated by the law, which must inspect these locations to verify their condition. “This documentation will allow the council to plan a schedule for the removal of asbestos not only from municipal buildings but also from public properties owned by other administrations and private individuals, who must be notified of the presence of asbestos so they can take appropriate measures.”
The information collected in the census is reflected in the web viewer LocAm, which has been provided to the City of Port of Cruz by the company free of charge for a year, so that the technicians from the Sustainable City area have a powerful informational tool that will aid in urban and territorial management tasks.
This process is a response to an action initiated by the Ombudsman, who requested from the Department of Ecological Transition a report on the degree of compliance by municipalities in this matter.
