PSOE calls for €7.1 million recovered over Storm Emma shipwrecks to be reinvested in Tuineje’s coastline and improvements to Gran Tarajal harbour

Manuel Hernández Cerezo, deputy secretary-general of the Fuerteventura PSOE and a member of the Parliament of the Canary Islands, has called on the regional government and the public body Puertos Canarios to reinvest the €7.1 million that the shipping agent company must pay for the sinking of several vessels in Gran Tarajal harbour in improvements to the port itself and the coastline of the municipality of Tuineje.

The proposal follows a recent ruling by the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands backing Puertos Canarios’ claim for the costs of removing the vessels, containing the pollution and repairing damage to port facilities after Storm Emma struck on 28 February 2018.

Hernández Cerezo believes that, once the payment has been made, the regional government must make a clear political commitment to Gran Tarajal. “It would be hard to understand if funds recovered as a result of a disaster at this harbour were simply absorbed into Puertos Canarios’ general accounts or spent on projects elsewhere in the archipelago,” he said.

“Gran Tarajal suffered the environmental, economic and social impact of those shipwrecks. Its residents lived with the consequences for years, and port activity was severely hampered. In the interests of justice, the recovery of these funds must lead to extraordinary investment in the place where the damage occurred,” the Socialist MP said.

The PSOE representative proposes that the Canary Islands Government, Puertos Canarios and Tuineje Town Council agree on a specific plan, with input from residents and the affected economic sectors, setting out priority measures and ensuring transparency and traceability in how the funds are spent.

Miguel Andújar, the PSOE’s local secretary in Tuineje, said the Tuineje Socialist Association had put the proposal to Hernández Cerezo so that he could champion it in the Parliament of the Canary Islands.

“From the Tuineje Socialist Association, we asked our colleague Manuel Hernández to take this demand to the Parliament of the Canary Islands. Gran Tarajal suffered the consequences of Storm Emma, and we believe it is only fair that the funds recovered for that damage benefit our municipality. It is now for the Canary Islands Government to step up and turn this compensation into investment and improvements for Gran Tarajal and our coastline,” Andújar said.

The areas to be addressed include the expansion and modernisation of Gran Tarajal harbour, its integration with the town, the restoration of degraded areas, improved access along promenades and to bathing areas, sanitation and environmental protection along the coast, as well as projects in the coastal settlements of Tarajalejo, Giniginamar and Las Playitas.

More than three years without concrete progress on expansion

Hernández Cerezo also criticised the current Canary Islands Government for taking no concrete steps to advance the harbour’s expansion and redevelopment. The project was presented to Tuineje Town Council in March 2023, but more than three years later the regional government and Puertos Canarios “have still provided no firm timetable for processing and carrying it out, set aside no adequate funding and made no public explanation of the administrative progress achieved”.

“The harbour project is on the table, but the Canary Islands Government has put forward no dates, no budget and no roadmap to make it a reality. Gran Tarajal does not need more announcements or studies that end up in a drawer: it needs decisions, funding and construction work,” he said.

The MP said the proposed works would improve shelter, safety and berthing conditions, increase the harbour’s operational capacity and strengthen its commercial, fishing and recreational potential. “We are talking about strategic infrastructure for Tuineje and the whole of southern Fuerteventura. Keeping it on hold means giving up opportunities to diversify the economy, create jobs and improve maritime connections,” he added.

The PSOE believes that funds recovered for the damage caused by Storm Emma should also help unlock the project, without relieving the regional government of its responsibility to provide the ordinary funding needed to complete it in full.

Hernández Cerezo stressed that the Socialist proposal is not intended to replace investment that is already due to the municipality. “We are not talking about using this compensation to cover outstanding obligations on the part of the authorities. We are talking about adding extraordinary investment equivalent to the amount recovered, to repair the damage, settle a long-standing debt and open a new chapter for Tuineje’s coastline,” he explained.

“The money stems from the damage suffered in Gran Tarajal and must return to Gran Tarajal and its coastal surroundings. This is a matter of justice, institutional responsibility and respect for a community that has already paid too high a price for decisions it did not make. That compensation must be accompanied by a real commitment to ensure that the harbour expansion ceases to be a promise and finally becomes a project with a budget and timetable,” Hernández Cerezo concluded.