The introduction in force since last Saturday April 1, 2023, exempts residents of the Region, simply by providing proof of residence, by presenting the registration on the ‘SIMplifica’ service portal, an invoice containing the address or another suitable document that allows checking the holder’s place of residence.
For visitors, payment can be made by digital means online, in advance or on site, by mobile phone or other device with access to the Web, always with the user’s own resources. Once payment has been made, a route usage ticket will be immediately available, with a limited duration, for each non-resident visitor.
However, the DIÁRIO found out that this payment, at least in these first days, is being made ‘to the taste’ of the customer. In other words, there is still no effective way for the IFCN to monitor whether the entrance fees, specifically on Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenço, are being paid. What exists is an awareness of the aforementioned payment, either through posters on the spot, or through the presence of elements assigned to the Institute.
To DIÁRIO, the president of the Institute of Forests and Nature Conservation, Manuel Filipe, confirmed, on this first day of application of the measure, that there are some constraints with payment via QR code, but also assured that the idea is not to have, on the spot, physical structures for said payment. Since, in the future, it will be up to the professionals of the IFCN to verify if the walkers are ‘within the law’.
Sounds like they putting things in lace having no idea what they doing or how it works.
In turn, Ilídio Vieira, concessionaire of the space at Cais do Sardinha, in Ponta de São Lourenço, confirms that the perception is that tourists, at least those heard recently, are not displeased with the fact of having to pay 1 euro to use the said route.
But it is more the lack of knowledge of the need for payment that may make it impossible for the IFCN to earn such funds. Inspection, at the easternmost point of the island of Madeira, becomes more difficult than at the Miradouro do Cabo Girão, for example, where entrances began to be paid on March 6th, for the amount of two euros, and exempting also the residents.
Ordinance n.º 60/2023 also clarifies that the funds collected by the Institute of Forests and Nature Conservation will revert to the conservation of the natural heritage and to the improvement of the infrastructures used in the activities.