Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — A real estate development has handed over land that includes access to Playa del Carmen’s Punta Esmeralda. Corasol has agreed to donate land to the municipality after more than a decade of waiting.
The donation was made after a recent Urban Development Building Commission meeting. According to Eighth Councilor and President of the Commission, Jaqueline Alcocer, a total of five properties have been donated to the municipality.
She said initally, four properties were donated during the 14 years the project has been in existance, however, a fifth property remained in limbo. “During the 2013-2016 administration, the corresponding procedure was not carried out, but we are doing it now, so that the four are approved as a package.”
She says the donation of Punta Esmeralda is part of that land within the municipality that had not been finalized. There is one more small piece of property that remains missing to complete the donation, she added.
“The donation was not completed at the time due to documentation problems,”she said.
The Corasol real estate development was granted permits by a former governor in exchange for various roads and land donations. However, over time, the delivery did not fully materialize even though the development was built.
During the administration of former Mayor Mauricio Góngora Escalante, four donation areas were defined, but the process was not completed. A fifth area was pending, which was Caracola Avenue, which leads directly to the public beach of Xcalacoco.
Alcocer says “that during the administration of former Mayor Cristina Torres Gómez, who is the current State Secretary, the paving of this avenue began but was not completed due to the lack of deeds, which has complicated access to the Xcalacoco beach area.
However, as a result of this review and the pressure exerted on the complex, all that remains is for the proposal to be approved by the Council and published in the Official State Newspaper to finally guarantee the legal certainty of these accesses to the beach.
In September of 2022, an illegal wire fence was put up to block public access to Punta Esmeralda before the start of a long weekend. The fence was allegedly put up by a nearby hotel owner. That fence was torn down by city officials.
In June of this year, Punta Esmeralda ranked among the best beaches in Latin America for its natural qualities, coming in third. Playa Punta Esmeralda ranked third in the category of best urban beach surpassed by two from Cuba, International Varadero and Historic Varadero.
