Thursday, November 21, 2024

520-room hotel near Tulum turned down for environmental reasons

The federal Secretariat of the Environment (Semarnat) has blocked the construction of a 520-room resort between Playa del Carmen and Tulum, Quintana Roo, due to ecological concerns.

The company Palmares del Country was planning to build a project known as La Calma on land fronting Xcacel-Xcaleito bay, located in the municipality of Tulum but just 25 kilometers south of Playa del Carmen.

The 26-hectare development was to feature 520 rooms spread across 23 buildings as well as an artificial lake, its own network of roads, a parking lot, a lobby and a water treatment plant.

But Semarnat denied the required environmental permits on the grounds that the project would place both land and marine ecosystems at risk and have a negative impact on three endangered species of sea turtles, which feed, breed and nest in the turtle sanctuary adjoining the proposed development.

Several citizens’ groups officially registered their opposition to the project as soon as they became aware of it, submitting a complaint to Semarnat’s environmental risk division on February 19, the newspaper El Universal reported.

The same groups held at least two protests against the project and created an online petition calling on President Enrique Peña Nieto to reject the environmental permission sought.

The federal department formally ruled against granting environmental permission to the project on August 31 and notified the applicant of its decision on September 11.

Semarnat previously refused to authorize a smaller 75-room development on the same site, also citing concerns about the impact on sea turtles.

The Xcacel-Xcaleito Sea Turtle Sanctuary has been designated as a natural protected area and is the largest observed turtle nesting area on the entire Yucatán Peninsula, receiving green, loggerhead and hawksbill sea turtles.

Source: El Universal (sp) 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Container ships arriving into the Port of Manzanillo in Mexico

Port of Manzanillo to receive 64 billion pesos in investment

0
The funds will help transform Mexico's largest port into the largest one in Latin America, but cartel violence could mar the project's promise.
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum at her daily press conference, pointing with her index finger straight into the camera as if taking a reporter's question. Behind her is the logo for her presidency, a black and white illustration of a young Mexican Indigenous woman in a traditional white Mexican dress and holding the Mexican flag.

President Sheinbaum: Prime Minister Trudeau supports keeping USMCA intact

2
Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters Wednesday that at the G20 Summit, Canada's Justin Trudeau assured her of his support for the trilateral trade deal.
According to the municipal government, total damages caused by Hurricane John amounted to approximately 50 billion pesos (US $2.5 billion).  

Sheinbaum pledges US $400M reconstruction package for Acapulco, calls for private sector’s support

1
"There has already been a lot of progress … but, we need [more] private investment in many areas of Acapulco,” the president said.