The Sustainable City, Participation and Urban Agenda area of the Puerto de la Cruz City Council has issued a decree to proceed with the subsidiary execution of the Iders buildinglocated in the Betancourt y Molina Family, after having been declared in a state of imminent ruin in July 2022.
In 1991, its owners were evicted because a report warned of the risk of aluminosis. From that moment on, the property was completely abandoned by successive corporations, becoming an embarrassment for the municipality and a continuous source of discomfort. for residents and merchants in the area.
It was the previous government team that took the first step to reverse this situation when in July 2022 it evicted the people who were still living there as ‘squatters’ due to the serious danger it posed due to the structural damage to the property, and welded the doors to prevent new access.
From that moment on, a process began with the owners to offer them a solution and put an end to more than 30 years of abandonment. A battle that is being won little by little.
Now, the aforementioned decree allows subsidiary execution to proceed at the end of the period given to the property to execute the actions that arise from the declaration of imminent ruin within the deadlines established by law and that have not been met. For this reason, the City Council “has had to take sides and voluntarily take charge of the different phases that remain to be carried out in the process,” confirms to this newspaper the councilor of the area, David Hernández.
It has done so after rejecting all the allegations presented by the owners of the homes, a total of 22, because they mostly contained the same reasoning and did not provide any added value to the criteria used for the property to be declared in ruins. imminent nor any document signed by a competent technician that contradicts what is stated in the municipal architect’s report.
The decree includes non-compliance with the duty of conservation, without going into assessing the reasons that caused it. Of the four measures contemplated in the declaration of imminent ruin, only two have been carried out, the eviction and the fencing, both carried out by the City Council. The removal of the networks and props from the main façade of the building remains to be carried out; cleaning and deratization; the drafting of the technical demolition project, which includes the health and safety study and the waste management study; and demolition work. All these works have a cost that amounts to 1,183,137 euros and will be assumed by the City Council with the subsequent charge to the owners of the Iders.
“Now everything is in the hands of the City Council, although for a subsidiary execution, you can start contracting, the approval of a budget is not necessary. We will start by shoring up some areas so that the space can be secured and cleaning can be done without problems. In parallel, the drafting of the demolition project will be contracted. I have issued orders for the Sustainable City area to start working now,” emphasizes David Hernández.
In this sense, the mayor adds an important caveat: “if during the contracting period of the project the property presents one, it would be possible that the City Council would receive it and not have to contract it.”
In any case, the important thing is that it will be carried out, on both sides, and that “there is no going back on this procedure,” he emphasizes.
“This is very good news, we have never come this far.”
“It is very good news because it has never come this far,” says councilor David Hernández. “For more than 30 years, attempts have been made to take steps but they have not materialized. Now we have a decree to comply with, there is no turning back, and we assume all responsibility,” he remarks.
From now on, the area he directs begins the procedures for the Administrative Litigation Court to grant authorization to carry out all the pertinent actions that derive from the declaration of imminent ruin, the final phase of which will be the demolition of the property.
However, the mayor continues to be very cautious with the times and prefers not to give deadlines since two important tenders must be carried out, the drafting of the demolition project and the demolition work. “And this not only depends on the Sustainable City area but also on the City Council’s Contracting Unit,” he clarifies.
