The Board of Directors of the Port Authority of Las Palmas opted for institutional prudence on Thursday, March 26. After 48 hours of high-level ‘movements’ and an unexpected public exposure, the institution led by Beatriz Calzada has left the administrative eviction of the Demarcation of Coasts of the Canary Islands on the table. The conflict, which threatens to pit the Ministries of Transport and Ecological Transition against each other, centers on the 677 square meters of the fourth floor of the port headquarters, a space that the Ministry has occupied without a title for two decades and which the Port is reclaiming for its own expansion and rehabilitation plan.
Calzada’s rhetoric underscores a lack of effective dialogue between administrations of different operational significance. A year ago, the Port notified the need to recover the space, receiving a promise of relocation to State premises that was never realized. In light of the recent refusal by Costas to vacate the offices, the Port Authority even drafted a forced eviction order with barely ten days’ notice. The decision to now allow an indefinite deadlock seeks to prevent a direct legal collision, enabling the Ministry to find a ‘relocation formula’ in a building that is already undergoing structural reforms.
While the high bureaucracy gained a respite, the Port has shown firm action against civil occupation. The Board has validated the forced eviction of four residential boats at the Muelle Deportivo —Larkan, Solana Segundo, Cachirulo and Solitario— in an operation that accumulates 34 procedures and affects about 70 owners. This administrative cleanup coincides with a judicial offensive at the Sotavento shopping center, where a recent ruling acknowledges a debt of 250,000 euros for unpaid fees, although the final eviction of the infrastructure remains blocked in the courts.
In terms of investments, the Port Authority has mobilized more than 4.5 million euros to secure its technical operations. Notably, it has tendered 2 million euros for the protection of crane cables at container terminals, a critical measure for occupational safety in the logistical hub of Gran Canaria. This is complemented by 1.5 million for access control software at the ports of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, and Gran Canaria, along with one million earmarked for an articulated rescue vehicle. The Port strengthens its investment muscle and extends its good practice agreements with Gesport, attempting to project an image of efficient management that contrasts with the real estate entanglement at its own headquarters.
