Arona Council Faces Backlash Over Stalled Infrastructure and Rejected Face-Covering Ban

Arona City Council is facing fresh criticism following a tense plenary session that highlighted ongoing delays in key infrastructure projects. Most notably, the Guaza sanitation network remains stalled; despite a budget of nearly three million euros, not a single cent has been spent on the project, which has been delayed and relocated for over a decade.

To prevent the project’s funding from expiring, the local government is rushing to shift budget allocations from 2026 to 2027. This move is a technical requirement to secure an extension from the Tenerife Island Council before the May 2026 deadline. The PSOE criticized the government for bypassing standard committee reviews and failing to plan effectively for a project that was originally slated for El Fraile before being moved to Guaza.

In other business, the council finalized the transfer of the Menéndez Street parking concession in Los Cristianos to Acvil Aparcamientos SLU. This administrative step formalizes a merger involving the original 1999 contract holder, ensuring the new company continues to meet all existing obligations.

The session’s most heated debate centered on a motion from Vox, which proposed banning face coverings—specifically the niqab and burka—in municipal offices. The proposal was rejected by a majority of the council. Even Coalición Canaria, a coalition partner of the party that proposed the motion, distanced itself from the initiative, stating there was no social need for such a rule in Arona.

Opposition parties unanimously rejected the motion, citing a lack of actual issues with customer identification and noting that the Supreme Court has previously struck down similar local bans for violating fundamental rights. While the Popular Party tried to pivot the discussion toward a general requirement for identification, other groups, including Más por Arona and Nueva Canarias, dismissed the proposal as incoherent. They argued that the motion ignored other items that obscure identity and warned against using the council to debate issues unrelated to the practical realities of governing Arona.