The European Parliament has accepted for processing a complaint presented by the Salvar La Tejita Association against the tourism project Cradle of the Soulwhich aims to develop a ravine and a beach in the south of Tenerife with more than 400 luxury villas and residences.
Puertito de Armeñime: a luxury tourism project puts environmentalists in check to save the last uncrowded beach in Tenerife
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Parliament has transferred the complaint to the European Commission (EC), which must now initiate a preliminary investigation into the processing of the tourism project, located in the town of Adeje portin the south of Tenerife, and which is provisionally paralyzed by the Government of the Canary Islands after various irregularities were detected and a “imminent threat of environmental damage” due to the presence of the sad viper, a protected plant.
Previously, the works had already been paralyzed on a part of the plot after technicians from the Cabildo de Tenerife confirmed that an archaeological site had been irreversibly destroyed, which constituted a “very serious violation“, so a extensive report about the matter to the General Directorate of Heritage of the Government of the Canary Islands, which ordered the work to be stopped.
The Salvar La Tejita association presented its complaint to the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament about the development of this project and the destruction it was causing to the flora and sites. These complaints were admitted for processing last Tuesday by its president, the MEP of the Popular Group Dolors Monserrat, as they entered “within the scope of action” of the EU.
The association criticizes in a statement the position of the new Minister of Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands, Mariano Hernández Zapata (PP), which recently opened the door for the works to continue through the expiration of the file and the transplantation of threatened species, such as the sad viper, despite the fact that this species is included in the Canary Islands Catalog of Protected Species, which legally prevents its transfer. “All of this without mentioning how the absence of an environmental impact assessment, which is mandatory in projects of this nature as established by two European directives, would be resolved,” he points out.
Furthermore, it points out that the construction of this tourist development goes against the declaration of energy emergency approved by the Canary Islands Government itself, given that it would “further complicate” the demand for energy in the south of the island and would consume more than a million liters of water every day if the more than 3,600 planned beds are built in their entirety.
The Adeje City Council, governed since 1989 by José Miguel Rodríguez Fraga (PSOE), presented an appeal against the stoppage of the works, but this September the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) rejected it.
What is Cradle of the Soul
It aims to be a luxury urbanization and resort located on a 430,000 square meter plot of a ravine and one of the few beaches on the island of Tenerife. Cuna del Alma plans the construction of more than 400 luxury villas, hotels, restaurants, swimming pools, beach clubs, spas and other infrastructure such as a 20,000-meter orchard next to the Site of Scientific Interest of the Protected Natural Reserve of Adeje. In addition, the beach is located in a protected marine strip, the Teno-Rasca Special Conservation Area, with a very rich marine biodiversity, especially in cetaceans.
Behind this macro project are two Belgian investment families (Vandermarliere and Van Biervliet) with “a strong portfolio of real estate projects, both in Belgium and internationally,” as highlighted by the group on the day the start of the works was staged (although The work had been underway for some time) at the beginning of May 2022.
Specifically, the plan is to build 108 residences in the ravine and its banks, with 36 Casita Houses (one to four bedrooms) from 85 to 129 square meters, 32 Beach Apartments (one to three bedrooms) from 80 to 163 meters square meters, 20 Valley Villas (one to four bedrooms) from 139 to 349 square meters, 18 Grand Villas (three to four bedrooms) from 432 to 650 square meters, as well as a 20,000 square meter farm, a beach club, a restaurant, a spa and a kids’ club.
Outcry on the island against the project
Since the presentation of Cuna del Alma, or Tomb of the Soul, as its detractors call it, citizen protests have taken place, both in Puertito de Adeje itself and in several demonstrations in the capital of the island, as well as a camping trip in the own works to avoid the destruction of the flora (a camp that was set up when it was found that the works were stopped).
A collection of signatures against the project also began, which already has more than 37,000 supporters, and several political parties, such as Unidas Podemos and Nueva Canarias, took a position against it from the beginning, for being “atrocious.” “We are talking about a habitat of interest whose conservation entails a special responsibility for the European Union, which is why we oppose, head-on, any type of urban and tourist development in this small bay that also has the virgin beaches of Diego Hernández. and La Caleta de Adeje”, NC stated in May 2022.
“Developmental and predatory” model
In fact, NC has once again expressed this Friday its rejection of the position of the new Ecological Transition counselor, who has opened the door to allowing the file open to the project to expire.
The parliamentary spokesperson for NC-BC, Luis Campos, announced that, in the control session of the plenary session next Tuesday, he will defend an oral question to Hernández Zapata for promoting a model that attacks natural heritage, rescues developmental growth, occupation of territory, cement and massification. Campos maintained that it is a “setback” in the economic, tourism and environmental policy of the Canary Islands in favor of sustainability and the preservation of the environment.
“We are very concerned” that the partners of the conservative pact are trying to promote again a project that endangers a unique area of the coast, whose sheet of water is part of the Teno-Rasca Special Conservation Area, by contemplating the construction of 108 residences , 36 houses, 32 apartments, 20 villas, 18 large villas, an artificial beach, a beach club, a restaurant, a spa and a children’s club, affecting a total area of 437,000 square meters.
This urban and hotel initiative, recalled the NC parliamentary spokesperson, was rejected by sectors of Tenerife society and was paralyzed by the “Progress Executive” (in reference to the coalition that governed the Islands in the last legislature).
“We are not talking about a project, we are talking about an absolutely developmental tourism model, the occupation of new virgin spaces, which does not talk about the reconversion of the obsolete tourist plant and advancing in quality,” denounced Luis Campos.
For NC-BC, the position of the Executive of CC and the PP represents a “setback, of several years”, in the economic, tourism and environmental policy that the Canary Islands developed and needs to guarantee the future. Also, Luis Campos observed, in the “longing” of Tenerife and Canarian society to “move forward” towards a “harmonious coexistence between our main economic activity and the needs” of citizens.
For Campos, the fact that Hernández Zapata announces that he is going to rescue this “attack against the natural heritage of Tenerife” marks the “DNA” of a cabinet that prioritizes private interests over the general interests of the Archipelago.
Hernández Zapata, for NC, is the person most responsible for one of the “most complex, relevant and strategic” policies for the Canary Islands. “We are facing an absolutely developmentalist government because this counselor also announced that he will reverse the climate change law,” he criticized. A rule that, in the 10th Legislature, was supported by CC and rejected by the PP. “Does this announcement mean that the PP’s position has prevailed?” asked Luis Campos.
