The funds will be paid annually, during the period 2022-2025, according to the multi-year expenditure approved by the Plenary of the Island Corporation last October.
The objective is to have “a new generation fairground that will be the flagship of the eco-island, with compact, efficient, flexible and sustainable facilities”, as already stated by the president of the Cabildo, Antonio Morales.
The Island Governing Council of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria today gave its approval to the direct award of a grant of 27,814,794 euros to the Institución Ferial de Canarias (Infecar), to finance the construction of the new pavilion and complementary multipurpose building of the entity, in the grounds of the capital of Gran Canaria.
The agreement adopted at the proposal of the Department of Economic Development, Energy Sovereignty, Climate and Knowledge, under the tutelage of the insular president Antonio Morales, establishes that the total amount of the subsidy will be paid annually and in advance, in the period 2022-2025, according to the multi-annual expenditure approved in the Plenary Session of October 2022 and which distributes the funds at the rate of 3. 877,919 in the current fiscal year, 2,992,098 in 2023, 11,082,731 in 2024 and 9,861,955 in 2025. The project is scheduled to be completed by August 31, 2025.
In this way, the Cabildo is financing a project that President Morales has already said represents “a new opportunity to recover the innovative character of the origins of the site, but betting on a multifunctional space that integrates all the current uses”. An infrastructure that, as he said, will become “a new generation fairground, which will be the flagship of the ecoisla, with compact, efficient, flexible and sustainable facilities that will allow it not only to maintain the exhibition area for its activities, but also to reinforce it”.
To achieve these objectives, the Master Plan of the Canary Islands Trade Fair Institution pivots on three main axes. Based on the first of these, it seeks to configure a multifunctional venue that integrates existing uses and has the capacity to host various types of events efficiently and even simultaneously.
It is also committed to open space and to enhancing the differential value of the venue, which combines the use of indoor areas, such as pavilions and halls, with outdoor spaces, with other outdoor areas and landscaped areas, which is configured as the main element that distinguishes it from other national and international venues.
In addition, it aims to become the first sustainable fairground. In keeping with the eco-island model advocated by the Cabildo, the Plan incorporates innovative solutions, such as a ‘zero-carbon’ urban planning system that will not only prevent the emission of polluting gases and CO2, but will also be an infrastructure that will capture it and thus contribute to regenerating the atmosphere. It will also produce twice the renewable energy it will need to operate, so it will be able to share the surplus with neighboring communities, which will also benefit from the ecosystem services provided by the environmental regeneration strategy to be applied at the new site.
With these premises in mind, the Plan contemplates arranging the space into four major spatial components: roads, parking and service areas; green ring; fairground plaza; and pavilions and associated buildings. The main action will take place in Pavilion 7, which will be transformed into the new Infecar pavilion and will have 8,500 square meters, 6,000 more than at present, to meet the existing demand in the trade fair and events sector.
