Güímar Approves Valle de Güímar Industrial Estate Conservation Entity

The Güímar City Council has approved the rules for a new organization called the Urban Conservation Entity of the Valle de Güímar Industrial Estate. This group will be responsible for maintaining the industrial estate, which covers over two million square meters. The council's decision passed with votes from the local government and Coalición Canaria. Three councilors from PSOE and one from Unidas Sí Podemos abstained.

This was the final approval needed to establish the entity. The city councils of Candelaria and Arafo, along with the Island Government Council, had already approved these same rules. Now, the public will have a chance to review them and provide feedback.

Airam Puerta, spokesperson for the Socialist Municipal Group, asked why the legal structure for maintaining the industrial complex had changed so much. He pointed out that in 2020, a consortium was chosen for this job, but now they are going back to a Conservation Entity. Mayor Carmen Luisa Castro discovered this change when she took office last July. The municipal secretary told the council that the Cabildo (Island Government) made this decision.

The Urban Conservation Entity will include the three Valle de Güímar city councils (Candelaria, Arafo, and Güímar), the Cabildo de Tenerife, landowners in the industrial estate, and the more than 200 companies located there. All these companies will be required to join. Public bodies will fund 55% of this joint organization, with the private sector covering the other 45%.

To get started, the Cabildo will provide 200,000 euros. This will be combined with 250,000 euros from the existing Mixed Association of the Industrial Estate, which is currently being dissolved. The city councils will contribute equally to fund the Urban Conservation Entity. However, the Valle de Güímar Industrial Estate's total area of 2,024,999 square meters is not evenly split between them: Candelaria owns 17.72% (almost 360,000 square meters); Güímar has 29.30% (around 600,000); and Arafo, the smallest municipality, covers 52.98%, with over one million square meters.

Before the Urban Conservation Entity (EUC) is officially established, its rules must go through the public review period, and its members need to set a budget for it.

Its responsibilities will include maintaining the industrial estate's roads, signs, sidewalks, and streetlights. It will also look after green areas, provide private security, and keep the roads and surrounding environment clean. The city councils, however, will remain responsible for providing water and sanitation to the entire industrial estate, covering the cost of public lighting, and ensuring security through the Local Police from all three municipalities.

Manuel Fernández, the Island Councilor for Industry, said that "creating this entity is a major step forward in modernizing and managing industrial areas in Tenerife, following the model suggested by the Canary Islands' Master Plan for Industrial Areas."