She was mayor, and now the Gran Canaria Tourism Councillor, Carlos Álamo, is vying for her leadership. The reappearance of former mayor and current Socialist councillor, Concepción Narváez, in the local PSOE primary process has been marked by the revival of one of the most controversial issues of her term: the situation of the Ronda Shopping Centre parking lot. Narváez has once again raised the need to unblock this privately owned facility, which has been closed for years, and has reiterated her proposal that it be managed by the public company Sociedad Municipal de San Bartolomé de Tirajana.
Narváez has requested that the owners be contacted, but without naming them. The Ronda Shopping Center, located in the heart of San Fernando de Maspalomas, is a project completed in 1997 on a 6.000-square-meter plot. The building's design includes two basement levels for parking, as well as two above-ground floors arranged around a large central courtyard covered by a Teflon dome, with a ramp connecting to the upper floor.
Despite its potential to alleviate congestion in the area, the shopping center's parking garage has remained closed and unused for years. This situation has created a significant parking problem in the San Fernando area, a busy commercial and residential hub in Maspalomas. During her time as mayor, Narváez initiated several negotiations to acquire and open the Ronda Shopping Center's parking garage. Her proposal involved direct management of the parking facility through the San Bartolomé Municipal Corporation.
In his recent statements, made during his participation in the Socialist primaries, Narváez defended the validity of this solution. In his opinion, incorporating this infrastructure into the municipal assets and subsequently operating it through the public company would be "a highly beneficial decision for both the municipality and its residents and visitors." This measure, he argues, would not only resolve the lack of parking spaces in the area but also generate income and employment for the local government.
The unblocking of the Ronda Shopping Center parking lot is a recurring issue on the political agenda of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, especially during election periods. Narváez's stance of advocating for municipal management clashes with other perspectives that could propose public-private partnership models or direct acquisition by the council for subsequent bidding. With his reappearance and insistence on this matter, Narváez seeks to establish his own profile within the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and place an issue with direct impact on citizens at the center of the political debate, coinciding with a key moment for defining the socialist leadership in the municipality in anticipation of future elections. The resolution of the Ronda parking conflict, therefore, remains an unresolved issue and a point of contention in the local administration of San Bartolomé de Tirajana.
