After all the media hysteria threatening stiff fines for landowners who haven’t sufficiently cleared their properties of overhanging trees and combustible material by today (March 15), prime minister António Costa has announced that ‘afinal’ no fines will be handed out before June.
Until then, landowners must continue cleaning up their properties.
GNR police will be on the ground in an advisory capacity, alerting homeowners to work that must be done – but no ‘notices of infractions’ will be drawn up before April.
Even then, no fines will actually be levied until June.
Thus the ‘stress’ that many thousands of people have been feeling has suddenly calmed. There is more time to bring properties in line with government requirements as per the leaflet that can be found online (click here)
In the meantime, said Costa, the government will be investing €14 million on cleaning up forest areas, with works considered ‘priorities’ being completed by May 31 (the last day before the summer’s peak fire period).
Also underway is the ‘construction’ of 837 kms of new ‘firebreaks’ as well as the maintenance of the 279 kms that already exist.
As for the fines – which Costa stressed the government does not want to see handed out – these will start at €280 for ‘single people’, say reports, going up to a maximum of €10,000, or €120,000 for companies.
Today however does signal the point at which local authorities can step in to areas where landowners have not cleaned properly, but the inference of PM Costa’s announcement today is that landowners now have extra time and authorities can be spared the responsibility for a few months longer.
“I want to congratulate the enormous effort already made by the whole country to reduce the amount of combustible material that could constitute a serious threat to the safety and lives of populations”, he said. “There has never been such a large effort to clean-up and secure our forests and reduce their fire risks”.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
