The Nature Protection Service (SEPRONA) of the Civil Guard has reported the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers for failing to comply with the limit of vehicles allowed in Montañas del Fuego. This has been confirmed by La Voz.
The fine from this unit of the Civil Guard comes after verifying that, at least, for two days in the past month of August 2024, the limit of cars and buses that are authorized to remain in this space was exceeded. Specifically, the Rector Plan for Use and Management (PRUG) of the Timanfaya National Park, the planning instrument that regulates activities in the park, contemplates that there can only be a maximum of 90 cars and eight buses.
According to sources from the Canary Islands Agency for the Protection of the Natural Environment, this complaint for the excessive motorization of the national park is being processed by the agency. At the moment, a technical compatibility report is being carried out, a common procedure in this type of sanction to determine if Montañas del Fuego is complying with its Rector Plan.
According to article 405 of the Land Law, the Canary Islands Agency for the Protection of the Natural Environment is responsible for initiating, instructing and resolving the sanctioning procedures that are committed in the national parks.
Acts in protected natural spaces or in their peripheral zones are classified in article 392 of the same Land Law. In this way, very serious infractions start from 6,000 to 600,000 euros. Meanwhile, minor infractions range from 150 to 6,000 euros.
The car queues in the Timanfaya National Park to access Montañas del Fuego are common and have been the focus of controversy in recent years, being one of the reflections of the massification that the island suffers. For the moment, the CEO of the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers, Ángel Vázquez (PP), has shown his intention to sell tickets by time slots and thus control the influx, although so far it has not been carried out.
For his part, the director of the Timanfaya National Park, Pascual Gil, defended a week ago in an interview with La Voz that the collapsed road" generates "road safety problems" and the difficulty of carrying out evacuations in case of emergencies. "The problem is not only the cars, but the pollution from the gases, because the radiators break, the gearboxes, there are oil spills. It's a disaster," he continues.
At the same time, he stressed that of the collection of the most visited Art, Culture and Tourism Center on the island "nothing affects the conservation of the park, but all that stays in the Tourist Centers." In addition, he added that this space, in the hands of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, "should take responsibility for all the damages caused by these queues and this massification."
