Various environmental and social organisations have organised a protest scheduled for next Friday, 15th March, starting at 3:30 p.m., to call for the cessation of construction works on the La Tejita beach hotel (located in the municipality of Granadilla, Tenerife) that were recently resumed by the developers.
Consequently, they have given a five-day ultimatum to all the authorities involved (Coast Authorities, Government of the Canary Islands, and Granadilla City Council) to “finally comply with the law”, following the company’s use of up to five court rulings from the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) that have allowed the construction to continue.
The Tenerife Association of Friends of Nature (ATAN) outlined in a statement that the company has been conducting excavation and clearance work within the public maritime land domain since 26th February, which constitutes “a very serious violation”, according to Coastal Regulations, and furthermore, “they are doing so deliberately with the malicious intent of destroying the dune corridor.”
Moreover, the group highlights that the remaining work “is currently inactive and without any workers present.”
“The developer’s fraudulent intent is blatantly evident, they are only working to devastate the land with a sandy ecosystem that led to the alteration of boundaries and subsequent work stoppages,” the environmentalists emphasise.
According to ATAN, the current boundary, approved in 2021, impacts 30% of the hotel project, rendering the construction of hotel facilities within this boundary “infeasible”.
They argue that “the urban landscape has evolved”, necessitating an official review of the municipal license (granted in 2018) and the authorization for works under protective easement issued by the Government of the Canary Islands in 2016.
Furthermore, the latter authorisation fails to meet four of the conditions stipulated in the permit, including the absence of a report on wastewater management, the group cautions.
The discharges from this project, like the entire Sotavento urbanisation, “are being released into the sea without treatment,” they condemn.
Lack of Approval
Similarly, it is noted that the General Directorate of Coasts and Seas, under the central Government, has recently informed the Granadilla de Abona City Council that the developer “lacks the necessary approval to carry out works in the public maritime-terrestrial area”.
Along these lines, ATAN also argues that projects of this nature “are not in line” with the climate change mitigation and adaptation strategy endorsed by the Canary Islands Parliament in the previous term, and that dune ecosystems play a “crucial role” in safeguarding the coast against rising sea levels.
“It is incomprehensible how these works, which only seek to devastate our shared natural heritage, are being allowed in a project that is legally unviable,” they caution.
In light of this, they question “what Coast Authorities are waiting for” to halt the project, and urge the Government of the Canary Islands and Granadilla City Council to review the permits.
