The City Hall of La Laguna has received phases 2 and 3 of the Montaña Pacho urbanization project from the company Construcciones Industriales de Tenerife Sociedad Anónima (Cointe), an action unit that comprises more than 100,000 square meters of land next to the Los Majuelos commercial park and near the exit to Santa María del Mar, according to the Laguna City Council in a press release. The reception is the act in which the builder, once the work is completed, delivers it.
«The reception of these two phases represents a decisive boost to the urbanization process of the area, in which municipal planning contemplates important actions, such as a sports park, a large landscaped open space, a large commercial establishment, the transfer of the college of Montaña Pacho, the widening of Avenida de la Libertad and the execution of newly created roads, as well as the redevelopment of some existing roads”, they specify from the local institution.
The mayor, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, celebrates that, “following such a complex process and so long in time, the City Council can finally give its approval to the reception of these two phases of an action that will reinforce the role of this area of La Laguna as an economic engine, sports and leisure center, and at the same time will allow the company Cointe to carry out its growth projects in this unit of action”. He applauds “the work carried out by the technical staff of the Urban Planning Management, with its managing director at the helm, in the processing of this file.”
The Councilor for Territorial Planning and director of the Urban Planning Department, Santiago Pérez, also highlighted an act that promotes the Montaña Pacho urbanization project, “which will allow new high-level companies to be installed in our municipality and is in line with of the reactivation of the lagoon economy that the municipal government has considered a priority ».
“As councilor for Town Planning, from the outset I explained to the officials that they had to pay special attention and make an effort to unblock, always within the legal channels, the problems that arose in the management of the Montaña Pacho agreement,” he says. Santiago Pérez, who also has words of appreciation for the work carried out by the personnel of the urban management service of the Management and especially for the technicians Ana Pilar Gómez Ascanio and Elisabeth Hayek.
Landscaped free space
The works of Phase 2, now received, correspond to the execution of a free landscaped space in the Bocatuerta area, which has an approximate area of 10,000 square meters, with a paved promenade lined with masonry walls. In the central part of the promenade, as a singular element, a ficus has been planted. The dominant tree species are the false pepper tree and the ombú that are found on the slopes towards Los Ángeles street, also notable is the hedge that goes from the beginning of the street to its meeting with Bocatuerta, in addition to the planting of several specimens of washingtonian palm tree For its part, the works of Phase 3 consisted mainly of the widening of the sidewalk of the southern section of Aceviño street with the extension of La Libertad avenue, as well as the provision of all the necessary services so that the plots that face to this sidewalk have the condition of solar and can be buildable. These are municipally owned parcels.
The reception of the rest of the phases is currently being processed, which are quite advanced, consisting of finalizing the urbanization of Gandhi avenue, access to the plots through El Paso avenue; access to the sports park through the link to the TF-2 service road, as well as the parking area in said free space, and access to the soccer fields and playing fields, pending the company correcting the latest deficiencies detected by the Urbanism Management.
“Almost a quarter of a century later, a process that dates back to 1998 is culminating,” says Santiago Pérez. “At that time, the municipal government approved, with contrary reports from the legal services of the Management, the General Secretariat of the City Council and the Intervention, an agreement with the Cointe company, which involved a very important reclassification of land in the area of greatest value from the point of view of trade and services on the island: the Los Majuelos industrial estate,” he says.
According to the councilor, at that time the Management technicians evaluated the capital gains that the company was going to obtain as a result of that requalification between 10,000 and 13,000 million pesetas. The counterpart would consist of an investment by the company of 600 million pesetas. That agreement approved by the plenary session was appealed by Santiago Pérez himself before the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands and then before the Supreme Court, the press release collects.
Judgment of the Supreme
The Supreme Court ruling forced the City Council to renegotiate the urban agreement “in much more balanced terms,” says Santiago Pérez. «According to the calculations of the Management, this company has had to invest practically 47 million euros in these years. In other words, the investment effort in favor of the citizens of La Laguna has multiplied by 10, as a consequence of the increases in the value of their properties, the result of that urban agreement. What we have done is defend the interests of La Laguna, and that a very important company in our municipality and on the Island can continue with its business projects once its obligations related to the management of these phases of the urban management process have been fulfilled.” they add.
