Two hotels and an apartment complex owned by the Riu hotel chain, which the state says They should be demolished because they are in protected areasis at the center of a discussion between the Spanish government and the Canary Islands executive.
These tourist complexes, located for decades in the Corralejo Natural Park, in Fuerteventura, are the target of the expiration file initiated by the Ministry of Ecological Transition (MITECO) on the license of the Riu Oliva Beach Resort Hotel, of the Riu chain, which also affects the Riu Palace Tres Islas establishment.
After the judgment of the Constitutional Court in favor of the State with regard to the powers linked to the File for expiration of these two hotels and the apartment complex of the Riu hotel chain “The way is clear for the demolition of these tourist infrastructures,” according to SEO/BirdLife.
Powers on the coasts
At the center of the debate are the competences of the coasts of the Canary Islands, which the island government defends as its own paralyze the expiration of the concession issued by MITECO.
On August 22, both sides They came together to address the powers on the coasts that the Canarian government defends that these powers belong entirely to it according to the 2018 Autonomy Statute.
Now, the plenary session of the Constitutional Council unanimously decides to reject the appeal of the Canary Islands executive against the expiration of the concession and gives carte blanche to the ministry to move forward with the process of demolition of these Riu Group facilities.
State concession
The concession granted several decades ago allowed the resorts of the Riu hotel chain to operate in this space for tourism purposes.a permit which is the responsibility of the Spanish Stateaccording to the High Court.
However, the dunes of Corralejo, in the north of the island of Fuerteventura, have been declared a natural park in 1982 while the Oliva Beach hotel of the Riu chain had been in the dunes for more than five years.
It was in 2003 that the State decided to grant the concession, three decades of authorization from 1992date on which the authorities left in writing that the hotel was invading the public domain.
Expiry of concession
The authorization granted to the Geafond company was modified and extended over the years until 2020, when It was found that the hotel and apartments had expanded more than expected..
The same year, The Secretary of State for the Environment signed the expiration of the concession and informed the concessionaire of its obligation to demolish the hotel for non-compliance with coastal regulations.
Everything revolves around the protection of the area, since “both the apartments and the Oliva Beach and Tres Islas hotels,other than a visual anomaly of great impact within the dune complex the most important in the Canary Islands, generate serious damage and deterioration both of the space and of a good number of protected bird species”, according to SEO/BirdLife.
A hotel that does not respect the rules
Thus, after several decades of concession, in February 2020, the State signed its expiration by breach cost regulationsand informed the concessionaire of the obligation to demolish.
The Government of the Canary Islands, immersed in the process of transfer of skills in this area by the central governmentturned to the Constitutional Court to defend what he considered to be his interests.
Now this court rejects the allegations raised by the Canary Islands executive and determines that the decision-making regarding the expiration of the concession of hotels and apartments corresponds to the state and not to the autonomous community.
Demolition decision
It therefore remains in the hands of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO)”ensure they are demolishedand that relevant ecological restoration is carried out,” notes the conservation entity.
“We celebrate the judgment of the Constitutional Court, which confirms the competence of the State in this circumstance, and We ask the regional executive to show the same zeal that it shows when demanding powers from the state.ensuring compliance with environmental regulations in the archipelago,” says Yarci Acosta, SEO/BirdLife delegate to the Canary Islands.
A process lasting several years
From the RIU group, they report that “This resolution of the TC does not mean, nor imply, the demolition of the Riu Oliva Beach Hotelfrom Corralejo. From RIU, we will maintain the defense of our rights through legal means; something we always said we were going to defend,” recognizing that “this is a process that can last for years.”
The hotel company claims that in the Canary Islands “There is no legal argument or fact justifying the expiration of the administrative concession granted to the Riu Oliva Beach Hotel.. This is how we will defend it before the courts, in defense of our legitimate interest, in the protection of the more than 400 direct jobs of the said establishment and, also, of the general interest of the island of Fuerteventura; “which has clearly expressed, through all its institutions, its support for the continuity of the concession.”
As they have already expressed on other occasions, Riu considers that the offenses attributed to them by the Ministry of Ecological Transition on the beach of Oliva in the Canary Islands “they lack foundation and they describe a situation that does not coincide with the physical reality of the hotel.
Solutions for workers
On the other hand, SEO/BirdLife requests, from the regional and central administration, collaboration and dialogue to identify options for workers, encrypted according to the company at 400which would be affected by a possible demolition and the cessation of economic activity that this would entail.
The affected area is a space declared special area of conservation (SAC Corralejo) and the Special Protection Area for Birds (SPA Dunas de Corralejo and Islote de Lobos), both belonging to the Natura 2000 network.
Among other species there are Canarian houbara (Chlamydotis undulata fuerteventurae), classified “in danger of extinction”, and the Saharan corridor (Cursor cursor) wave Ganga Ortega (Pterocles orientalis), both in the “vulnerable” category of the List of Wild Species under Special Protection Regime and the Spanish Catalog of Threatened Species.
