The Ducks beach It has been officially closed since July 2013, due to the closure of the old staircase due to the existence of a serious risk of collapse and accidents. That closure has left the north of the island of Tenerife without one of its best beaches for nine summers in a row and, despite the fact that at times in 2021 and 2022 it seemed possible, the work on the new staircase will not be finished in time for this either. summer. The tenth in a row. The Canary Islands Government confirmed this Thursday, May 19, 2022 that the forecast is that this area of the Protected agricultural area of El Rincón regain your secure access “in the last quarter of the year”, between October and December.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands made this announcement after the visit that the councilor José Antonio Valbuena (PSOE) made yesterday morning to the works, which are 50% completed, with a total budget of about 650,000 euros. Six times more than what was initially proposed, in 2014, when an action budgeted at just 106,000 euros was commissioned. At that time the old staircase was demolished and the scaffolding was placed, but a landslide paralyzed that first attempt.
The mayor of Urbanism of La Orotava, Narciso Perez (CC)also visited the works, along with other councilors from the government group and the Municipal Socialist Group. At the moment, 325,146 euros of the budget have been executed, which has allowed the construction of most of the stairs and the path that will facilitate the arrival at the coast, through a path that, since before the closure of 2013, already presented impassable sections. by the detachment, sinking and destruction of part of the structure of the stairs. This work is one of the interventions promoted by the El Rincon Consortium, the entity that watches over the development of Law 5/1992, of July 15, on the protection of the agricultural area of El Rincón, in La Orotava. This body is made up of the Government of the Canary Islands, the Cabildo of Tenerife and the City Council of La Orotava, together with the El Rincón Homeowners Association, the Unión Vista El Teide Neighborhood Association and the El Rincón Ecological Coordinator.
Despite the fact that we will still have to wait about five months to see the finished works, Valbuena expressed his satisfaction “for the evolution of the project, since, due to the conditions of the land, It is a complex process and practically handmade». The counselor valued “the important effort that all the administrations involved have made to complete the work as soon as possible, but with all the necessary guarantees.”
This emblematic bathing area will celebrate ten summers of forced closure in a few months
Narcissus Perez valued that this project to improve access to the beach of the ducks finally go at a good pace and that it is taking shape, since it is a work that “over time has suffered numerous obstacles”. Pérez trusts that «there will be no new contingencies, so that it can be ready this year, as well as access to Bollullo beach, where there have also been landslides on the slope. In this case, the work commissioned by the City Council of La Orotava It has an end date in June, so the municipality will be able to recover this beach for the summer season.
Among the actions carried out, apart from the new structure of the stairs, the installation of a metal mesh and a dynamic screen that will protect the stairs and the path from possible landslides stand out. The technicians responsible for the work announced that «In the process of completing the work, materials will be used that will blend in with the environment and reduce its impact, such as the basalt stone on the concrete and the wood of the railings». In addition, they insisted that they work on a work “for life” and proof of “vandalism”, which in the past has already deteriorated softer actions that were tried to be carried out in this area of the Villera coast.
The City Council of La Orotava does hope to reopen the Bollullo beach in June
Narcissus Perez insisted that “despite the fact that we have seen some criticism, this project has scrupulously complied with all the administrative procedures and environmental conditions, has been examined with a magnifying glass and has the approval of the Government of the Canary Islands, the Cabildo and the City Council, Costas in Canary Islands and Coasts in Madrid. And the El Rincón Consortium made it its own”, where various groups such as neighbors, owners and the Ecological Coordinator of El Rincón. “The use of concrete is justified because we are saving a cliff with a great risk of landslides”, but clarifies that “to judge the work we have to wait until it is finished, since now we see a lot of material, a huge structure of scaffolding and some finishes that will not be the end result.
Reduced visual impact
A photograph taken by Pedro Millán last Saturday, May 14, of the current state of the works on the Los Patos beach staircase, on the coast of El Rincón, in La Orotava, has generated criticism on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook against this work for considering it a performance with an excessive visual impact. Those responsible for the work have assured EL DÍA that it is still too early to judge the characteristics of the intervention, that it has a large scaffolding structure that will be removed and that it contemplates measures to reduce its visual impact, such as the natural stone covering of the most of the concrete elements, the installation of wooden railings and the placement of millstone pavement, of volcanic origin, on the steps that will give access to Los Patos beach
