The battle for strategic control of the Santa Águeda dock has entered a phase of legal conflict following the failure of the multinational Votorantim and the Masaveu group to meet administrative deadlines. The Minister of Public Works, Pablo Rodríguez, confirmed this Thursday to Maspalomas24H that the eviction process of the cement plant Ceisa It is inevitably heading towards full legal action, as the deadline of May 2026 has passed without the company having left the port facilities.
Despite the Canary Islands government's request for precautionary measures to recover public land, the court remains silent, prolonging a conflict that is blocking the tourism and nautical redevelopment of southern Gran Canaria. The dispute centers on a resolution by Puertos Canarios (Canary Islands Ports Authority) that denied the extension of the concession, demanding the dismantling of silos, cranes, and a 5.550-square-meter bulk cargo warehouse.
The stagnation of a critical schedule
The original plan designed by the managing director of Puertos Canarios, José Gilberto MorenoThe plan projected the complete reopening of the port by mid-2027. However, the resistance of the cement company—which operates under a concession that technically expired in 2022 after 50 years of activity—has derailed this timeline. Ceisa justifies its continued presence by arguing that the port concession must be tied to its mining operations until 2046, an argument rejected by the regional government, which maintains that the extracted ore no longer requires intensive use of the dock for export.
The legal standstill represents a setback for the municipality's land-use planning, where the industrial use of Santa Águeda is perceived as an anomaly compared to the adjacent residential and hotel development. While the regional government insists that the ore is transported by land and that the dock is no longer essential for the factory, Ceisa's owners are keeping the litigation alive, having previously obtained a favorable ruling in the first instance, which is currently under appeal before the Provincial Court.
Reputational risk and assets in limbo
For Votorantim and Masaveu, remaining at Santa Águeda has become an asset management challenge in the face of a government that demands a comprehensive dismantling inventory. Technical reports require the company not only to remove the machinery, but also to guarantee the structural integrity of the breakwater and carry out thorough environmental remediation of the soil contaminated by oils and lubricants.
The legal battle over the conflict is increasing uncertainty surrounding a port whose legal status as a "heritage asset" is key to the island's tourism mix. With the courts remaining silent on the injunctions requested by Pablo Rodríguez, the "peaceful withdrawal" of heavy industry from southern Gran Canaria is suspended, transforming an administrative decision into a legal labyrinth with unpredictable consequences for investment along the Canary coast.
