Loro Parque, SA has responded to criticisms regarding the processing of the Modernization, Improvement, and Competitiveness Enhancement Plan (PMMIC) for El Veril, in San Bartolomé de Tirajana. The company maintains that the plot of land allocated to the water park meets the environmental, administrative, and hydrological guarantees required by law. The report from the Gran Canaria Island Water Council, dated April 9, 2026, places the area covered by the plan outside the designated flood risk zones for 100- and 500-year floods. The company emphasizes that the area "is located outside the defined risk zone" and that "being in the vicinity of a section of an inventoried riverbed does not mean being in a flood zone," labeling the spread of alarm as "an absolutely reprehensible act of irresponsibility."
The canalization works carried out in 2017 had the concession of public hydraulic domain through Decree 042-REC of the island body and the Major Works License of the San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council of July 2017. These interventions allowed that "where before there was a floodplain today there is a properly channeled and controlled channel."
The company denies omitting information about land use and maintains that "there is no concealment of the water park." The 1996 General Urban Development Plan classifies the land as developable land not yet programmed for a Recreational Theme Park. The project has also received a declaration of "economic, tourist, and social interest" from the Gran Canaria Island Council in May 2014 and strategic investment status from the Canary Islands Government in September 2015. The complex's design was publicly presented on June 14, 2023, at the Gabinete Literario in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to business representatives and the media. The developer rejects any accusation of territorial discrimination, stating that there has been "no kind of apartheid between Loro Parque and southern Gran Canaria."
The Las Palmas Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Businesses (FEHT) has defended the processing of the plan in several public appearances to protect jobs in the sector. The developer points out that the employers' association "has publicly supported and continues to support the PMMIC (Metropolitan Plan for the Modernization of the Historic Center) and the Loro Parque SA project for this area." The San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council voted in favor of initiating the drafting of the new Modernization Plan on June 27, 2024. The company emphasizes that "in San Bartolomé de Tirajana, the decision was not made by Las Palmas as a whole: it was made by the City Council, unanimously," after the municipal Urban Planning department validated the procedure.
The accumulated investment in El Veril has reached €30 million since the purchase of the plots in February 2014, within a total budget of €160 million. The company estimates that the project "will create 500 jobs during the construction phase and 350 direct jobs once it is operational." The company accepts "without reservation" the requirement to cover its water supply through seawater desalination and its own wastewater treatment plant. Loro Parque clarifies that the 3.565,23 cubic meters per day indicated in the documentation "corresponds to the demand of the study area under the current scenario" and not to the water park's facilities, citing the renewal of its Biosphere certification in January 2025.
