The insular director of Coordination and Support to the President of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Aarón Afonso, affirmed yesterday that “we will ask the Government of the Canary Islands that the process of allegations” to the Governing Plan for Use and Management (PRUG) of the Teide National Park “be extended everything necessary to achieve approval of the best document possible”. “If it is enough until the end of July”, which is the new term that the Government has given, “perfect, but if more time is necessary, then we will urge the Government” to do so.
This is how Afonso stated in the appearance requested by the PP in the plenary session of the Cabildo to be informed about said document and the allegations presented by the insular Corporation. In this regard, he explained that “the main allegations were made in the process of consulting the administrations last year, within the framework of the environmental assessment carried out”, but that, even so, “work continues to be able to prepare the document that will be presented throughout July”, and that will incorporate “some of the proposals that have been made by the groups with which meetings have been held”.
Thus, the insular director specified that some of the allegations already presented to the Teide PRUG They are to increase the limitation that has been set of 1,200 hives, and several related to sports, in terms of the practice of training for mountain running, climbing, cycling or events. In addition, it is requested that audiovisual recordings be allowed with the maximum guarantees of protection, or that active tourism companies be able to carry out their activities, as well as others related to the Cable Car, among others.
Afonso defended that “no one doubts the need to protect the park, and that a new master plan is necessary because the current one is from 2002”, but pointed out that in the draft there are some issues that “this Corporation does not share or that can be improved ” , and that is why arguments have been presented, and new ones are being worked on, and “we set a position in the March vote for the provisional approval of the PRUG in the Canary Islands National Parks Commission, with abstention”, while the rest supported it, he remembered.
Likewise, he valued that “it seems to us that it is a reasonable proposal to implement a sustainable mobility system” to moderate the intense use of the park, so that “the possibility of service areas, which was already included in the PRUG of 2002, can be an adequate model that should be analyzed and debated”. Even so, he clarified that it is not about “establishing prohibitions on access to Teide, which are not established in the PRUG”, and that “the use of collective transport is not imposed, but we understand that we have to continue working along these lines to that citizens can move within a single space through this collective transport”.
For all these reasons, he asked the CC and PP for “a bit of rigor in their statements”, which he described as a “political strategy to try to erode the regional government and incidentally the island government”.
Meanwhile, from Ciudadanos, Concepción Rivero indicated that the current document has not achieved the “balance point” between “protecting the environment and carrying out activities.” For his part, from the PP, Manuel Fernández emphasized that “we must regulate, but not prohibit”, and requested that “they withdraw this project, that they start from scratch and have everyone”.
Likewise, the spokeswoman for Sí Podemos Canarias, María José Belda, expressed her doubts about the service station in El Portillo and criticized the demagoguery of several parties with their statements. “They are not stealing Teide from us, they are not privatizing it and we will be able to continue enjoying it,” she emphasized.
From CC, Blanca Pérez denounced that “the document lacks rigor in many aspects” and “studies are lacking”, as well as that “citizen participation has not been promoted, only when social alarm is generated is it intervened”.
Meanwhile, the island councilor for the Natural Environment, Isabel García (PSOE), criticized the “false demonstrations” of recent days and stated that “it is said that tourists have to pay for park services, and we agree, but only we can do if we restrict access and organize it from the service areas, which CC del Cabildo commissioned, covering the costs of managing and maintaining the park and restricting the private use of the rental car that causes saturation”.
no motions
Between the appearance of Afonso and two more volunteers from the Government, the eight hours established by the regulations of the Full, without reaching the debate of the motions. Among them there was a CC to paralyze the PRUG of Teide, for which the party accused the PSOE of stealing the right to debate this issue. “The motions have been lengthened so as not to be able to discuss, above all, the Teide motion, because they are 14-14”, denounced the councilor of CC Efraín Medina, for which he announced that they would contact the other forces “to request an extraordinary and urgent plenary session to be able to debate what has not been possible today”.
“Absolute rejection of what has happened, the appearances have been extended on purpose so that there was no time to continue with the plenary session, we are going to join the CC request to have an extraordinary plenary session”, added councilor María José Belda, spokesperson of Yes We Can Canary Islands. Along the same lines, Zaida González (PP) had also denounced that “perverting the democratic system in this way is shameful, today we have seen how the appearances have been extended to ensure that the motions are not debated.”
Meanwhile, the insular president defended that “it is so democratic that most of the appearances are requested by the opposition that the government group can do it, and they can talk about issues that they understand are important.”
