The capital of Tenerife yesterday offered a dip in the sea for the crowds. After a long struggle of almost 35 years, led by the residents of the Valleseco neighbourhood, the long awaited Los Charcos beach, popularly known as Ligrasa, opened completely renovated for the enjoyment of the whole city. A historic milestone for Santa Cruz de Tenerife that brought together hundreds of people on a day full of emotions, applause and even sporadic dips, to celebrate the new leisure and bathing area of the capital’s coastline, which will be freely accessible to the public.
To the rhythm of the song Rompen las olas, by the group Africuya, the area of Los Charcos de Valleseco was dressed up as a party on a morning when even the clouds moved aside to make this long-awaited work shine in all its splendour, which has ceased to be a dream to become a reality.
The inauguration ceremony began with the traditional ribbon cutting to give way to the unveiling of the first of the plaques by the authorities, in which the district of Valleseco is recognised for its decisive impetus in the development of the Ligrasa area.
The president of the Canary Islands Government, Fernando Clavijo, the president of the Port Authority, Pedro Suárez, the mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermúdez, together with members of the municipal Corporation, the president of the Island Council, Rosa Dávila, the sub-delegate of the Government, Javier Plata, and the president of the platform in Defence of Valleseco Beach, Javier González, together with hundreds of local residents and other onlookers, attended the opening of this new bathing area.
Clavijo said that “the Valleseco beach is a reality that has taken many years to achieve, so I hope that in the future we have the possibility, from the Government of the Canary Islands, to be more agile when it comes to giving the answers that are demanded in terms of Coasts”. He announced that “in order to make progress on this objective, we need to ensure that competence for the coast is fully effective, as already established in the Statute of Autonomy and the Decree of Transfers, without the State Government reserving any capacity to act in this area”.
For his part, Pedro Suárez pointed out that “the port is handing over this new bathing area to Santa Cruz for its use, which is another way of boosting tourism and employment in the capital. Eighteen years have passed since the collaboration protocol was signed between Costas, the Port Authority and the City Council on the actions to be developed in this coastal area. A long time that will have to be speeded up for subsequent projects”, he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Rosa Dávila described the new beach at Valleseco as an “important and historic milestone” and affirmed that “we will continue in the fight to recover this part of the coastline, which is why the next commitment will be to open the Tenerife Marine Sports Centre (Cidemat)”.
For José Manuel Bermúdez, Los Charcos “is an example of how, to get things done, all you need is hard work and goodwill. And here there has been a lot of it: especially from the residents and from those in the administrations who have put the project above the bureaucratic hurdles”.
The sub-delegate of the Government, Javier Plata, alluded to the “role played by the General Directorate of Coasts, which in 1996 collaborated in the drafting of the first project for a single beach with sand for the entire coastline of Valleseco”.
Finally, Javier Gonzalez, representative of the neighbourhood platform thanked the struggle of more than 30 years in which “they wanted to isolate us from the sea, but thanks to the more than 40,000 signatures collected, we were finally able to save this space that is now open to all”.
LOS CHARCOS IN SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE: WHAT IS AVAILABLE
With an investment of almost 19 million euros, the work on Los Charcos has been directed by the architect Elsa Guerra, according to a design by Sol y Sombra de Casariego Guerra Arquitectos, winner of the ideas competition in 2005. With a length of 340 metres and a surface area of 13,300 square metres, it has protective docks, floating platforms and solariums, as well as accessible docks and ramps. It includes green areas, fountains, showers and adapted toilets, together with pedestrian walkways.
The new bathing area will be open every day from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., and no smoking or animals will be allowed inside, except for guide dogs.
