Anfi´s Planned Gran Canaria Beach Development Deemed Illegal
The Anfi Tauro project has had its beach concession cancelled amid a raft of accusations of corruption and other illegal activities. Anfi had acquired 3,811 square meters of land north of Tauro Beach in order to complete part of the developments expansion; but they most oddly offered the local planning department two discontinuous pieces of land, some of which was and is still partially occupied and for the most part is not exclusively owned by Anfi.
The General Directorate of Coasts in Gran Canaria has now annulled the concession to the Anfi Group forthe total 11,200 square meters of public land upon which Anfi had planned to build. It would seem that by breaking the conditions of the development agreement the Anfi Tauro project is currently in tatters.
The objective of the concession was to expand the beach from 180 metres in length and 18 meters in width to 280/50 meters. Although the project initially planned to use sand from Las Canteras beach, in the capital of Gran Canaria, Anfi instead chose to import the sand from the occupied territory of Western Sahara, despite there being a UN ban on commerce while Morocco’s administration and occupation of those lands are still subject to conflict.
Based on this, the Council of State ruled on 23rd April 2020 that the Anfi Tauro project “had flagrantly failed to comply” with the condition of giving the 3,811 square meters to the public domain for the extension of the beach and, by making this extension impossible, has altered the purpose of the concession. Both the breach of the conditions of the concession and the alteration of its purpose are included in article 79.1 of the Spanish Coastal Law as reasons to declare that the concessions expire and to terminate it.
The works were stopped in July after the Guardia Civil (The Civil Guard) responded to claims of illegalities and in August the beach was officially closed and the project stopped, after the Head of Costal Planning was dismissed from his position for gross misconduct and a formal investigation launched.
The beach is easily accessed on a daily basis by hundreds of members of the public, though without oversight or basic safety precautions in place, there is a distinct fear that a beach user could suffer injury and further harm could be caused due to there being no life guards or basic life support on site.
The hearings continue…….
An Ode to Anfi
There was a young man called Michael Finnegan
He bought a timeshare near Arguineguin
Paid £17K, and that was just the beginagin
Poor old Michael Finnegan
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk