The developers of the Mítikah luxury apartment tower in Mexico City have been fined 40.8 million pesos (US $2 million) for cutting down 80 trees on one of most picturesque boulevards in Mexico City’s Xoco neighborhood.

The Mexico City Environment Secretariat (Sedema) said Friday that Fibra Uno, the company responsible for the 80-year-old trees’ removal on Real de Mayorazgo, was unable to present permits authorizing the cutting.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum dismissed the company’s claims that it had received a temporary environmental impact permit from the previous government, asserting that the company had ignored the fact that the permit also required authorization by the secretariats of Mobility and Security, which were not sought before Fibra Uno proceeded.

In an interview with the newspaper Reforma, former Sedema chief Tanya Müller said that an inter-institutional committee made up of different government agencies had indeed issued an environmental impact permit to Fibra Uno with the understanding that the developer would eventually donate part of the development for the construction of tree-lined public sidewalks.

The construction project, which began in 2008, was originally slated for completion at the end of this year.

Many of the luxury tower’s apartments are already available for sale online, some of which are listed for as much as 25 million pesos (US $1.3 million).

Despite the government’s fine for cutting down trees and the consistent and voluble complaints of residents whose concerns included everything from a dwindling water supply and pollution to apprehensions about traffic overload on the neighborhood’s streets, the project will continue on schedule and apparently meets with all other required authorizations.

Source: Animal Político (sp), El Financiero (sp)