On May 31st, the first precautionary stoppage of the work on the Cuna del Alma project in Puertito de Adeje, in the south of Tenerife, was ordered on 2% of the land by the Cabildo because archaeological remains were detected in the area. On November 11th there was a second stoppage, this time throughout the plot following the order of the Canary Islands Government, given the "imminent threat of environmental damage" on protected wild flora. However, yesterday, December 2nd, the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Canary Islands declared total suspension of all of the work.
The news "was to be expected," says Sixto Domingo García, president of the Tegüico Heritage Association, whose complaint last May caused the first of the three stoppages. He says that he feels "joy", but knew that yesterday’s decision was inevitable, and subsequently revealed that all of the campaigners have not stopped congratulating each other for what they have achieved.
Alfonso Boullón, a spokesman for Salvar La Tejita, describes it as "the result of a series of stoppages on ‘nonsense’ work that should not have been allowed to start in the first place." Their complaint led to the second stoppage of the works, the first that affected the entire plot.
Boullón says that they hope that "at the end of the day it will be understood that this model is completely unfeasible. It makes no sense that these types of projects start in a hurry and are managed in a more than questionable way by the municipalities, and then, it takes much longer to see if the law is complied with or not”.
The Tenerife Association of Friends of Nature (ATAN) denounced the investors, promoters, architects, and engineers, among others, linked to the Cuna del Alma project before the Provincial Prosecutor's Office in Santa Cruz. Iván Sardeña, a volunteer from the association, believes that by "complying with the law, it is impossible to get ahead." However, the decision does not surprise them: “This proves us right. For us this decision is not a surprise, it was what we expected to happen.”
The Salvar El Puertito Platform arose as a result of this urban project. Pablo, a member of the association, explains that many people believed that they were not going to achieve anything. "We have been very satisfied because we have been faithful to our principles, maintaining a peaceful but not passive struggle, and we have achieved it."
Two disciplinary proceedings against the project:
The voices of the activists are joined by those of the world of culture, and those of more than 150 professors, doctors, and teachers. All of them are against this project, which has two sanctions against it, the first for an amount of 600,000 euros for destroying an archaeological site, and the second, for 110,000 euros, for working without an environmental impact assessment study.
The Cuna del Alma project is for more than 400 luxury villas, a hotel, restaurants, swimming pools, beach clubs, spas, and other infrastructure such as a 20,000-metre orchard next to the Adeje Protected Nature Site of Scientific Interest. In addition, the beach is located in a protected marine strip, the Teno-Rasca Special Conservation Zone, with a very rich marine biodiversity, especially cetaceans.
Behind this macro-project, there are two Belgian investment families (Vandermarliere and Van Biervliet) with "a strong portfolio of real estate projects, both in Belgium and internationally", according to what the group highlighted the day the start of the works was staged (although the works had been running for some time) at the beginning of May this year.
