Dávila calls for a permanent seaplane base in the Canary Islands
The Government will declare Tenerife this Friday as a ‘catastrophic area’
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Aug. 31 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Cabildo of Tenerife has made an initial assessment of the damage caused by the forest fire that has been ravaging the island since last August 15 – currently stabilized after burning almost 15,000 hectares in a perimeter of 90 kilometers across 12 municipalities — and has estimated them at 80.4 million euros.
This was stated on Thursday by the insular president, Rosa Dávila, who recalled that the Council of Ministers will probably declare the island of Tenerife as a ‘catastrophic zone’ this Friday.
“The estimated damage, only to the infrastructure of the Cabildo and the effects on the regeneration of the mountain, Teide National Park, are estimated at around 80.4 million euros,” he asserted, recalling that the primary sector is one of the most affected by the fire.
Dávila pointed out that the insular Corporation has worked “intensively” to have this first assessment of damages with the aim of making them available to the Government of Spain so that it can proceed with the declaration of a ‘catastrophic area’.
Here, he made special emphasis that these 80.4 million are only in those aspects that have to do with roads, with hydraulic infrastructures, with the affectation of agriculture “and everything that it implies for the impact on the Teide National Park, the forest crown and the protected natural spaces of our island”.
The president pointed out that the fire, “the biggest in the last 40 years in the Canary Islands”, undoubtedly has an impact on the lives of people who are engaged in agriculture, livestock, who are affected by irrigation, by which awaited a response, “as President Sánchez anticipated”, from the Government of Spain.
SEAplane BASE IN THE CANARY ISLANDS
On the other hand, Dávila explained that this fire allows us to reflect, “and it is the need for the Canary Islands to have a permanent seaplane base.”
“After three years of suffering terrible fires for the entire Canary Islands and after the fire that the island of Tenerife suffered, I think it is no longer questioned that the Canary Islands need a permanent seaplane base.”
For the president, the justification that was given at the time in 2020 by the Government of Spain that other areas would be left unattended, “is no longer sustained after having lived through this terrible fire that has left Tenerife devastated with damage not only economically but environmentally without precedents”.
