Posted Week Commencing: Monday 11th April 2005
A battle to prevent the giant Lidl chain building a superstore in Granadilla de Abona has been won, but the war goes on.
The group had applied to the Industry, Trade & New Technologies Council for a licence to open a discount superstore at Calle Atalaya on the industrial estate not far from Las Torres housing estate.
Coalición Canaria in the southern municipality welcomed the news that Tenerife Cabildo’s Trade Commission had turned down the project.
They said the plan seriously endangered the work of hundreds of families who, directly or indirectly, earned their living from commerce and who had helped to drive the local economy over many years.
But, they warned, that wasn’t the end of the fight as the Canarian Government had the final say on whether the scheme went ahead.
San Isidro’s traditional business sector has already registered opposition to the development of superstores in the area on the grounds of their serious socio-economic impact.
Urgent repairs to Tenerife’s major roads could be put on track by business sector funding.
After maintaining contacts with the island Cabildo and Infrastructures Council, the Canarian Confederation of Business Associations (CONCAP) offered to advance the money to finance the works. The organisation’s management board stressed the need to get resurfacing projects under way.
Not only did the state of roads increase driving hazards, but there was more wear and tear on vehicles plus a rise in fuel consumption. For the transport sector, the situation meant a loss of competitiveness at the expense of companies and clients. CONCAP president Juan Luis Lorenzo Rodríguez said resurfacing and an improvement in the investment in island motorway maintenance was overdue when compared to European management programmes. Agreeing that the investment was inadequate and should be doubled in some cases, Tenerife Roads Councillor Lorenzo Dorta said formulas would be sought to speed up the funding and reactivate vital works.
After a long delay, work began on constructing more than seven kilometres of road to link the town of Arico with the TF-1 motorway at Abades. Over six million euros will be spent on the 18-month project which is being tackled in five phases and Tenerife Cabildo Roads Councillor Lorenzo Dorta said the local Town Hall’s plan had been held up by delays in the compulsory purchase of land involved.
Local Police in Granadilla de Abona plan to get tougher with owners who disregard by-laws governing control of pets.
In a recent clampdown, officers took the names of people who allowed 13 dogs on El Médano beach then ordered them to leave.
Granadilla Town Hall advised that animals found in public places without an obligatory microchip fitted would be removed to the municipal kennels.
Reminding residents of their duty to comply with the by-laws, the local authority said the police would be helped in their task by volunteer firemen.
The social awareness campaign, Tenerife Amable, is now in its third phase.
This time around, the focus is on training the people who deal directly with the island's all important visitors.
Staff at both Tenerife airports in the north and south will benefit from a free course organised by the Cabildo. During the first week of April, over forty people will take part in a course entitled "Tourism is wealth: quality and friendliness in customer service".
Cabildo vice president and head of tourism and planning, José Manuel Bermúdez, says the move "has been welcomed by management at both airports and participation of the airport staff is very important as they deal directly with passengers when they arrive on the island - they are the first contact tourists have in Tenerife."
The course includes practical training in communication skills for better customer relations and topics like friendliness, a strategic factor, and methods for gaining customer loyalty to Tenerife to encourage repeat visits.
The Tenerife Amable training course has been designed to encourage a major change in professional approaches toward visitors by motivating staff and making friendliness a lasting hallmark of identity not just a tactic.
Work is scheduled to start this week on Los Cristianos auditorium to be located at the Arona tourist resort’s cultural centre.
Announcing the scheme costing 1.8 million euros, Mayor José Alberto González said the project should take a year and would complement the region’s cultural offerings.
Also planned to stimulate the town’s economy were improvements involving the cultural centre, promenade and Calles General Franco and Juan Reverón with a budget of more than 6.6 million euros as part of the infrastructure and tourist quality plan in conjunction with the Canarian Government.
Water water everywhere but not enough that’s drinkable.
Concerned about the low quality levels of Tenerife’s supply, Socialists at the island Cabildo proposed a motion for the next full authority meeting in favour of a more efficient and accountable management of this vital resource.
Their main aim is to reduce wastage and introduce purification, reutilisation and desalination systems.
The group stressed the importance of minimising considerable losses in piping water which, in the case of the South, amounted to 40% of the total volume.
Equipment renewal was a priority and savings policies should be brought in, they said.
Industrial production methods should be explored for 99% of Lanzarote’s water for human consumption was desalinated, while Tenerife could claim only 9%.
The island had just one seawater desalination plant at Santa Cruz and two at the project stage in Adeje-Arona and Granadilla de Abona, the group pointed out.
A call has been made for improvements to the accesses to Tenerife’s northern Los Rodeos airport in order to eliminate daily traffic jams.
The island’s Enterprise & Tourism Centre petitioned Tenerife Cabildo Roads & Transport Councillor Lorenzo Dorta after receiving complaints from metropolitan area residents and tourists annoyed with the difficulties and inconvenience caused.
CIT noted that the main route, serving as main entrance to the San Lázaro road in La Laguna, was subject to long tailbacks in the slow lane and on the motorway hard shoulder, leading to a considerable loss of time and people even missing flights.
The centre proposed that Los Rodeos access from capital Santa Cruz should be used exclusively for that purpose, reducing the discomfort suffered by passengers and getting rid of the bad image created.
Airlines Binter Canarias and Iberia will hold an April 14th summit in a bid to resolve the ground workers problem which caused chaos in Canary Islands airports before Easter.
Unions fear that around 700 jobs will be in jeopardy with July’s end of an Iberia contract for employees carrying out Binter handling duties.
Binter has proposed the launch of a handling service which would involve the contracting of 400 staff.
More than 2,000 pupils from the borough of Arona recently took part in a road safety campaign launched by the Social Services Department of the Town Hall and the Road Safety department of the Cabildo.
The initiative, which began in March and will continue until the end of April, forms part of the Educate for Health programme organised by the town hall for the 2004 – 2005 academic year and is initially being carried out in the schools of Las Galletas, Cabo Blanco, Chayofa, La Camella, Las Madrigueras and Los Cristianos.
The principal aim of the course, explained councillor for Social services, Marta Melo, and the coordinator of the Cabildo Road Safety Department, Nayade Gueera Zerpa, is to make infant, primary and secondary children aware of the importance of respecting traffic and pedestrian regulations as well as encouraging the parents and teachers to take more time to explain road safety aspects to the children.
The campaign has been adapted to suit the needs of three different groups - infant, junior and senior - and although the theory part has been given within the classrooms where large wall posters have been displayed and leaflets given out, the practical part has been carried out in a working road scene which contains traffic lights as well as vertical and horizontal road signs.
Tackling domestic violence is high on the agenda of Tenerife Cabildo which is taking the fight to all 31 island town halls.
Politicians and workers in the field have been attending sessions and were due to confer with Local Police representatives in order to improve the institutional response and co-ordinate specialist intervention on victims’ behalf at island level.
The first meeting, held at the Island Domestic Violence Unit’s headquarters, was attended by director Julieta Martín and Social Affairs Councillor Cristina Valido with the aim of formulating objectives, programmes and projects.
A conference with local police has been arranged for later in the month.
Tenerife Island Authority (Cabildo) and British Airways franchise, GB Airways, have signed a marketing agreement to launch and promote new direct scheduled flights between Tenerife and the UK.
A total of nine new flights will be launched in summer 2005, rising to 21 for the winter season 2005-6. It is a clear indication of the confidence GB Airways has in the island as a holiday destination. In the last five years the overall increase in seat capacity has been 350 per cent.
There will be a major trade and consumer marketing campaign to plug the new flight services with a 500,000 euro budget jointly funded on a 50:50 investment basis by Tenerife and GB Airways. All marketing and creative plans will be designed to achieve maximum occupancy of seats and also to build upon the growth in the number of flights and new departure points in future.
One of the priorities outlined in the Tenerife Marketing Plan, drawn up by SPET, is to improve flights available to Tenerife. This means that there is constant activity designed to achieve that aim. If the number of scheduled flights operated by other companies into Tenerife remains the same, without taking into consideration the numerous charter flights to the island, this winter there will be over 40 weekly scheduled services into Tenerife.
Fred Olsen recently announced fast ferry services on all Canary Islands routes.
The new Benchijigua Express, Bentago Express, Bencomo Express, Bonanza Express and Bocayna Express are the boats involved and, apart from the latter, all offer Gold Class facilities, including a free bar and food, preferential vehicle boarding and disembarking, and an exclusive on-board area.
Ferry and terminal staff are also sporting fashionable new uniforms.
Canary Islands residents are now entitled to a 35% discount on inter-island sea travel, backdated to January 1.
This was made possible by the Canarian Government’s contribution being raised from 15 to 20% alongside the 15% provision from Madrid.
Government Council Secretary Antonio Castro said the 5% improvement would cost the Regional Executive 3.7 million euros a year.
Inter-island flights and air journeys to and from the mainland carry a 38% discount for Canarian residents.
A full session of Arona Town Council approved a budget of 79.38 million euros for the current financial year, a 2.5% increase on 2004.
Cleaning and Gardens were the departments to receive the biggest boost with more than 12 million euros between them, while security spending was up to 5.36 million euros.
Works & Infrastructures had been earmarked over 15 million euros in order to continue a programme that included Los Cristianos promenade, the second phase of Cabo Blanco Cultural Centre and Las Galletas sports centre, completing Arona town football ground project and La Camella road improvement.
The first phase of a multimillion euro tourist complex that will offer sports, leisure and health facilities to complement all-year-round sun and beach officially opened on April 1st.
The exclusive Abama resort, spreading over almost 160 hectares in Guía de Isora, teed off with the launch of an 18-hole golf course that boasts white sand bunkers, 22 water hazards and more than 90,000 palms, other trees and a variety of plants in a tropical garden setting.
A clubhouse, three practice holes and a golf academy are also available for enthusiasts on an ambitious development in which the Timón group has invested 250 million euros to bring ultra high quality tourism to Tenerife.
A 300-bed five-star hotel is due to open its doors to a privileged clientele in July, while 120 villas and a select spa make up the project which is set for an official inauguration in November.
Timón, which unveiled Abama at FITUR in Madrid, has been promoting golf packages for specialist press in the Spanish capital and will follow up with presentations at international tourism fairs and in European capitals.
Tenerife Cabildo are studying 50 bids from 16 companies to carry out maintenance work on 400kms of island roads with an investment of 15.6 million euros over the next two years. A total of 163kms are involved in the South, ranging from the TF-1 motorway (Santa María del Mar link-TF-82 intersection in Adeje) to the TF-66 (Valle de San Lorenzo-Las Galletas) and TF-665 (giving access to Los Cristianos from the TF-1), both in Arona. Projects covering more than 94kms in the West include Icod-Armeñime, Armeñime-Puerto de Santiago, Puerto de Santiago-Tamaimo, Santiago del Teide-Chío and Guía de Isora-Playa de San Juan.
Up to 23% of the Canary Islands population, 400 to 450,000 people – live below the poverty line, according to official figures corroborated by Cáritas Diocesana of Tenerife.
An increase in the number of immigrants who come in search of paradise and find the reality quite different has aggravated the situation, says the organisation’s general secretary, José María Rivero.
The majority arrive with the aim of obtaining official permits, but only about 3,000 had applied under the Spanish Government’s current amnesty whereas 32 to 40,000 were estimated to be in the archipelago.
Each year, Cáritas takes care of 15 to 20,000 people, more than 3,000 of them immigrants, and 2,800 family units in Santa Cruz de Tenerife province.
During 2003, the organisation attended to 1,600 homeless, of whom 50% were nationals and 33% Canarians; the rest were immigrants.
Posted Week Commencing: Monday 4th April 2005
Madrid has given the go-ahead for the regeneration of Los Tarajales and Las Galletas beaches in Arona.
Authorisation came from the Coasts Office which will also carry out improvements to Los Cristianos coastline, according to an Environment Ministry agreement with local Mayor José Alberto González.
He said the Los Tarajales scheme would result in Los Cristianos boasting three quality beaches, but the coastline plan could not be implemented until La Laguna University experts had delivered their study on the environmental impact to the bay, expected at the end of this month.
The Coasts Office had also agreed to the widening of the town’s sea walk which could help boost trade in the zone and improvements would be made from Barranco Aquilino to El Rincón.
Las Galletas beach was a short-term project with pebble beaches being replaced with small sandy coves, said the Mayor, but further development of the coastline would have to wait until Tenerife Cabildo had completed the future El Fraile-La Estrella link road.
Toxic volcanic gases have halted work on a new major hydroelectric scheme in Costa Rica, Central America.
The Costa Rica Electricity Institute (ICE) has asked the Tenerife Renewable Energies Institute ITER (Tenerife Island Authority) to help unravel the mystery, which has paralysed the Cariblanco Hydroelectric Scheme, started in 2004.
The four year project aims to take advantage of the water flowing from four rivers - the Sarapiqui, Cariblanco, Quicuyal and María Aguilar - to generate 80 mega watts of electric power. The works are located in a volcanic deposit area, which has singular volcanic-tectonic features such as the North-South alignment of volcanic cones, large volcanoes like Poás and Barva plus major fault lines running East-East and Northwest-Southeast, including the San Miguel fault and escarpment, which is very close to the site
During excavation of the main tunnel, anomalous gas emissions were detected which were harmful to the health of the workers. Emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) have affected twenty workers and have led to the works being halted.
Tenerife's ITER will offer assistance by compiling a study into the areas where underground excavation work passes through gas deposits in the main tunnel. The study will be of great value not only for the continuation of this civil construction project but also to investigate the volcanic-tectonic features of the area.
The Tenerife team, based at Granadilla, South Tenerife, has plenty of experience in studies into diffuse degasification in many volcanic systems around the world such as Japan, Papua New Guinea, Cape Verde, Canary Islands, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua. In Costa Rica studies have also been carried out into active volcanoes like Miravalles, Irazú and Poás.
The Costa Rica Electricity Institute (ICE) was set up in 1949 for the rational development of energy sources, specifically to channel projects that take advantage of hydroelectric power, to boost the national economy and to promote improvements to the standard of living for the people of Costa Ric
Education is just one of the Arona services under pressure amid the chaos affecting all walks of municipal life which the Mayor blames on a population boom sparked by a massive influx of immigrants.
José Alberto González, who has made an urgent call for controls to curb the number of arrivals, said a high percentage of the immigrants were on the poverty line and this sector claimed 80% of the money set aside to cover the basic needs of people classed as social emergencies.
In the field of education, he pointed out that the future Cabo Blanco institute should lead to the closure of premises in Guaza that were meant to be temporary, but an increase in pupils was likely to see the latter continue in use.
If so, Cabo Blanco would be solely for compulsory secondary education students (12-16 years) and those taking vocational courses (14-18 years).
Other secondary pupils would have to transfer to Los Cristianos or La Estrella to continue their education, said the Mayor who described other public services as suffering from the same pressures.
He reckons Arona’s multicultural population has soared to around 70,000 and is made up of more than 130 nationalities, although that has not provoked any serious conflicts.
Tenerife Cabildo will spend 600,000 euros building a new installation for the wildlife recovery centre (CRFS) at La Laguna.
Extension of La Tahonilla Environmental Centre will aid the treatment and reproduction of recovered species, investigation and educational activities.
Environment Councillor Wladimiro Rodríguez said the work was essential to preserve a very important part of the island’s natural environment for there were interesting wild species that were often unknown to the population.
Apart from an operating theatre, treatment room and breeding zone, there will be space for injured birds to fly before being returned to the wild, tanks for turtles and a reptile area.
Above all, the centre will encourage the reproduction of indigenous species which are threatened with extinction.
World-renowned Loro Parque, which plans to introduce four whales to the Puerto de la Cruz attraction by next winter, is working with the Canarian Government on a rescue programme for the recovery and conservation of protected marine life.
Through an agreement between the Regional Executive’s Environment Councillor, Augusto Lorenzo Tejera, and park Director Wolfgang Kiessling, Loro Parque will provide a refuge and veterinary care for rescued, injured or orphaned specimens from Canarian waters.
The Councillor praised the nature protection work of the zoological park which hopes to take delivery of the whales in autumn or winter to extend the range of exhibits.
News of the new arrivals was released at a gala dinner held at the Hotel Botánico, Puerto de la Cruz, where the annual El Gorila prize was awarded to tour operator Thomas Cook which had shown a 22% increase in Tenerife-bound passengers coupled with a 23% rise in those heading North.
The event was attended by the Canarian Government and Tenerife Presidents, Adán Martín and Ricardo Melchior, island Tourism Councillor José Manuel Bermúdez and Puerto Mayor Marcos Brito.
Drivers have been promised a safer ride along about 1.3kms of the South carretera general passing through San Miguel de Abona after Tenerife Cabildo completed improvement works with a budget of more than 600,000 euros.
Costs were kept down by recycling the old deteriorated road surface as hardcore for the new asphalt and avoid wastage.
Lorenzo Dorta, the island authority’s Roads & Transport Councillor, said the process had resulted in a solid covering that would carry a lot of weight and offer drivers greater safety and comfort.
A drainage system was also installed because standing water had contributed to the poor state of a road carrying close to 5,000 vehicles a day and all that remained to be done was to mark out the two lanes.
A total of 3,000 military personnel from 16 NATO countries were taking part in bigger than expected Operation Noble Javelin-05 off the Canary Islands until mid-April in a change from the original plan.
The Ministry of Defence gave notice of the extended scope of the exercises that were initially intended to be of short duration in April and involving a force of only 1,700.
Now that number was made up of land and air services, while around 1,300 were crew members from participating ships, said a spokesman.
One of the objectives was to mobilise NATO’s response group for the first time, while guaranteeing the environmental protection of the Canaries according to the restrictions imposed by Spain.
Details of the operation, due to end on April 14, had been agreed at a meeting between the military and the Regional Executive, said the Ministry.
Countries involved are Spain, Britain, US, Canada, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Turkey and the Netherlands.
A row broke out between Las Galletas residents over an Island Waters Council plan for an outflow to the sea as a solution to flooding caused by heavy downpours.
After a meeting with Arona Mayor José Alberto González, Sol del Sur residents association President Roberto Tapia said he had been assured that the project would not threaten the fishing village’s beach or tourist trade.
But a breakaway group from the association announced demonstrations to halt the works and called for Tapia’s resignation.
They said the consequences for Las Galletas were dire with a slump in tourism having direct repercussions on the local economy.
Tapia responded that he had merely passed on information provided by the Mayor.
A shortage of Local Police has forced Guía de Isora Town Hall to consider contracting private security for the Playa de San Juan coastal zone.
Street and night-time patrols are planned if the Central Government’s representative gives the go-ahead.
Mayor Pedro Martín also wants to put Local Police in plain clothes as part of plan for improving security in the municipality.
Guía de Isora has an 18-strong Local Police force, but illness and a lack of recruits from the Canarian Police Academy have obliged the Mayor to study other ways of boosting numbers by hiring personnel from private security companies.
They would work in direct contact with Local Police and the Guardia Civil if the plan is put into effect, said Pedro Martín.
He is due to meet with the Government representative, Guardia Civil and Local Police as well as co-ordinating with his counterpart in neighbouring Santiago del Teide.
Güímar Mayor Vicenta Díaz reached an agreement with Tenerife Cabildo’s Institutional Relations Councillor, Ángel Llanos, for the island authority to provide funding to help expand the fleet of the municipality’s Local Police force which has three corporals, 20 officers and a clerk.
San Isidro commercial sector needs better support from public administrations to keep the tills ringing, say traders.
Worried about the time being taken to complete improvements to the town’s main thoroughfare, Avenida Santa Cruz, including a major roundabout, shopkeepers are banding together in local business people’s association AESI.
With much work ahead on the road infrastructure, they say small and medium-sized businesses need a boost to move forward.
They also floated the idea of a professional training centre to improve attention to customers and are prepared to fight the introduction of superstores which would have negative consequences for Granadilla de Abona and the region in general.
Traders have already contacted the local authority to register their opposition to a possible development by a food giant in the town.
AESI, which hopes to be properly constituted by the end of April, would like to see regular foot patrols to tighten up policing, too.
The president of AESI, Celestino Hernandez, commented that although San Isidro has become a busy commercial area there is still a long way to go and emphasized that more support is essential if the small businesses in the area are to continue to thrive and grow.
Pirate drivers doing illegal South Tenerife airport runs are not taking the hint when caught by Local Police – there were repeat offenders among the 28 arrested in February.
A special squad has been assigned to keep observations at Reina Sofía in Granadilla de Abona to crack down on unlicensed vehicles which are poaching taxi drivers’ business with pick-ups and drop-offs.
Local Police Councillor Rufino Acosta said the Town Hall was determined to stamp out the practice and official proceedings had been launched in 65 cases so far this year.
Tenerife Cabildo had the overall powers for inspection and control in such situations, he pointed out, and it was possible the island authority would introduce measures to safeguard the taxi drivers’ trade.
Creating artificial reefs or an island beach reached only by swimmers were among the conference ideas put forward for giving a new look to Costa Adeje’s old quarter.
Students and lecturers from prestigious European architectural faculties made up the think tank for the Front Line Mobility experiment promoted by the Fine Arts Circle with the support of the local authority.
In general, the participants favoured stamping public spaces such as streets, walkways and gardens with a mark of quality unique to the zone.
They proposed extending beaches towards the sea and equipping the area around the bus station with services for residents and visitors, and suggested ways of speeding up the movement of tourists between hotels and apartment complexes.
The ideas presented by the students have already aroused the interest if Adeje’s Mayor Jose Miguel Rodriguez Fraga who expressed his satisfaction with the results of the seminar.
Coastal population zones and the farming sector in Santiago del Teide were assured of an immediate improvement in the quality of their water supply when Tamaimo desalination plant became operational.
Agriculture was expected to be the main beneficiary, especially for irrigation, as Tenerife’s sixth plant went into service at a cost of more than 3.83 million euros.
Built on site covering 4,200 m2, the installation stands 465m above sea level and has a daily production capacity of 2,400 cubic metres, although that can be increased quickly and economically to 9,400 if needed.
The new was officially opened on Wednesday 23 March and will guarantee a high quality and plentiful water supply for both the coastal towns and the agricultural areas of the borough.
Cabildo president, Ricardo Melchior and the Mayor of Santiago del Teide, Juan Damian Gorrin, were accompanied by island councillor for water, Jose Joaquin Bethencourt and government delegate, Jose Segura, at the opening ceremony.
The plant is the sixth to be set up on the island and the objective is to guarantee the best use of the available underground water sources. Bethencourt explained the equipment in the plant uses the latest technology to ensure optimal production.