The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo (CC), has denied on Friday the existence of any file within the Government to purchase the plot where the La Tejita beach hotel is being built, in Granadilla (Tenerife), as well as any budget allocated in the community accounts to address it.
The President has reviewed the status of the Urbanization projects in Cuna del Alma and the La Tejita hotel with the President of Tenerife Island Council, Rosa Dávila (CC), and the Mayor of Adeje, José Miguel Rodríguez Fraga (PSOE), in a meeting where the Mayor of Granadilla, Jénnifer Miranda (PSOE), who had previously announced she would not attend, was also summoned.
At the end of the meeting, Clavijo explained to reporters that the data offered by the Mayor of Granadilla on Thursday are not true and her request to “reverse reports” from the Government and Island Council prior to the license is not correct.
The President said the Government of the Canary Islands remains willing to discuss, the responsibilities “are perfectly defined in the law” and, in the case of La Tejita, it is up to the Granadilla City Council to decide whether to reverse the license granted to the developers of the project and also to review the files.
The President of the Canary Islands Government criticized the Mayor for not attending the meeting – Miranda argued that she believed the encounter was going to be a “political façade” – because all technical reports were at their disposal to handle the matter “seriously” and her absence, in his opinion, shows that “intentions are otherwise”.
Clavijo argued that the responsibility cannot be “avoided” and shifted towards the Government of the Canary Islands and the Island Council, as it is the Granadilla de Abona City Council that has made the general urban plan and granted the license.
“And I ask myself: why not blame the National Government or the UN?”, joked the President.
“Did the Canary Islands Government and the Island Council make the general plan (of Granadilla)? Did they plan all the way to the Los Abrigos coast, where there is classified land available for construction, because the City Council wanted it that way?” he added.
The Mayor of Granadilla could have reversed it
Fernando Clavijo explained that if the Mayor of Granadilla had wanted to reverse the construction license and reclassify those lands, with the Land Law she could have, as it allows them to become rustic land “without having to pay a single Euro in compensation” and by taking an agreement in that direction to the council.
When asked what he would have told the Mayor to have attended this meeting, he commented that he would have provided her with the 2019 Coastal file, which indicates that a part of the hotel would be in an affected area, and they could have discussed “her willingness” to initiate purchase negotiations with the developer.
However, he ruled out the option for it to be the Canary Islands Government itself to make the acquisition, as the autonomous community “buys land for schools, hospitals, ultimately, Government infrastructures” and not to “prevent the construction of a hotel that has the Council’s approval”.
“It has to be done by the City Council, and we support and assist them, but they can’t say ‘this is not my problem’, because the license was granted,” he concluded.
Regarding the other project in question, Cuna del Alma, which affects the municipal area of Adeje, he praised the willingness of its Mayor, José Miguel Rodríguez Fraga, to meet and noted that it has been “evidenced that its file meets all requirements, that the acts and licenses are regulated, and compliance with regulations prevails”.
He added that for this latter project, they will have a company to work in coordination with the General Directorate of Heritage to ensure the protection of pre-Hispanic sites in the area, and that this work will be “continuous”, so that when remains are detected, construction will be stopped.
