Santa Cruz Urges Island Council Intervention to Unblock ‘Santa Cruz Verde 2030’ Project

Santa Cruz de Tenerife’s ambitious urban renewal project, "Santa Cruz Verde 2030," is facing delays that could push back the timeline for redeveloping the city’s former refinery site. Mayor José Manuel Bermúdez recently acknowledged that the city’s expansion plans are tied directly to the completion of new Cepsa facilities at the port of Granadilla.

The two projects are technically linked: the refinery in the capital cannot fully close until the new storage and distribution hub in the south is operational. However, progress in Granadilla has stalled due to a backlog in permit approvals. To resolve this, Mayor Bermúdez has called on the Tenerife Island Council (Cabildo) to intervene. He is proposing a legal process known as "avocación," which would allow the island government to take over the licensing process, bypassing local delays for a project that is too large and strategically important to be managed by a single municipality alone.

While city officials note that projects under their direct control and that of the Canary Islands government are moving forward as planned, they argue that the southern logistics hub is too complex to remain stuck in local bureaucracy. Because the Granadilla site is a critical part of the island’s infrastructure—connecting both the port and the airport—the city council believes the Cabildo must step in. For Santa Cruz, this is more than just a permitting issue; it is a vital hurdle that must be cleared to ensure the city’s long-term urban transformation remains on track.