The Ciudad Real International Airport has assured that it “meets all the conditions” to temporarily and temporarily host migrants arriving by air “given the humanitarian emergency.” It has done so through a statement after a week of silence since the first information about the possible location of a reception center in its facilities was made public.
It argues first of all that with this communication it aims to help understand “the social alarm and unusual initial reaction” created by the possibility of using an airport for the temporary and transitory reception of migrants in vulnerable situations. According to him, this option is still in its initial stage of technical analysis and “without any firm decision in this regard.” This is the same thing that the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, has been reiterating in recent days.
Next, the company states that given the current emergency of the immigration situation in Spain, specifically in the Canary Islands, the Government is carrying out a task of searching and selecting suitable locations, from a technical point of view, “to alleviate migratory pressure on the Islands through the transfer of migrants to the peninsula by air.”
It considers that offering its infrastructure to enable help to overcome the current humanitarian emergency “is obligatory” due to its nature as a public service, just as it was done during the pandemic. And he continues to explain that the central Administration is studying and analyzing the suitability of various infrastructures to address this emergency. “One of them is the Ciudad Real International Airport.”
To select the possible locations, the responsible body of the Central Administration, reveals, has carried out a technical visit to the airport facilities in order to study their suitability for this humanitarian mission. Subsequently, it has compiled information, plans and technical documentation on the airport’s capacities, surfaces and facilities already built. “Within this analysis, this location and the associated services of cleaning, security, maintenance, air conditioning, connectivity, among others, are economically evaluated.”
That is why the airport requested budgets from several companies in the region for the different services and capacities, which would lead to the new employment of more than a hundred people in the area.
“Given that the technical visit and data collection, we understand that they are part of a first analysis to select an ideal location to face the humanitarian emergency, we did not believe it was appropriate, in this very primary phase, to communicate the visit to the local and regional authorities, since, between the airport and the central Administration, there was no decision favorable to the installation at the Ciudad Real International Airport at that time.”
Also from the airport they understood that in the event that their infrastructures were selected, the communication to the local, provincial and regional administrations would be carried out by the responsible body of the Central Administration in a timely manner: “In a humanitarian project of such characteristics there are many other actors and factors involved with which the airport has no relationship or power whatsoever.”
In reference to the latter, he adds: “If you feel harmed, we apologize to the regional, provincial and municipal administrations for this lack of communication, which in the current state of the matter we believe would not be necessary or obligatory, just speculation.”
The works in progress
The statement also refers to the works that are currently being carried out at the airport, which, according to what they say, are part of a contract signed more than a year ago, between the company TRAGSA (Provincial Delegation of Ciudad Real) and the airport. .
This contract consists of the supply of loan aggregates (sand and limestone material) for the restoration of soils in the old San Quintín Mine. This is why there have been public works trucks and machinery working at the Ciudad Real airport facilities for more than a year. These trucks and machinery are usually parked during non-working days in the truck parking lot of the airport’s cargo and passenger terminal, among other places.
In this regard, it argues that international airports have, among others, “areas dedicated to passenger assistance” that allow passengers to be provided with maintenance, catering, lodging, leisure or health care services during their temporary stay in the airport. airport. “In Spain, for example, the Madrid-Barajas international airport is already being used for this purpose, and is hosting migrants on a temporary and transitory basis during the current humanitarian emergency.”
This use of passenger services is included in the Airport Master Plan (PDA) of the Ciudad Real International Airport, which is the urban planning and development instrument that governs airports of general interest, even though they are located on land that was classified in its day as a Project of Singular Interest (PSI), as is the case at hand. The PDA is the responsibility of the Ministry of Transportation.
“We believe that the central Administration has thought about our infrastructure as one of the possible locations since, in our opinion, it meets all the conditions to provide these services temporarily and temporarily to migrants arriving by air given the humanitarian emergency. ”.
Against “rumorology”
The Ciudad Real International Airport understands “the social alarm” that the news that appeared in the media may have caused public opinion. Regarding “the confusion and rumors” that this analysis process has caused prior to any selection, the airport “disagrees” with many of the statements that appeared in the media.
“Firstly, the Ciudad Real airport, if it were selected as an ideal location, would in no case become a ‘Guantánamo Manchego’, or any other misguided alarmist adjective taken out of context, which attempts to describe the use of an aeronautical infrastructure. “with great characteristics for the treatment of a humanitarian emergency, like the one we are experiencing today,” he emphasizes.
The airport finally considers that it is necessary to call for reflection and dialogue between the different administrations to achieve the best possible solution, whatever it may be, for this specific national and European emergency.
#Ciudad #Real #airport #breaks #silence #defends #meets #conditions #migrants
