Chetumal, Q.R. — The Environmental Protection Agency (PPA) has fined the State Secretariat of Public Works 452,234 peso for cutting trees. The fine was imposed this week for an incident that occurred earlier this year during a Chetumal city remodeling project.
The fine is the result of an incident that happened in January when a total of 31 mature trees were cut down during the rehabilitation project of Bahía de Chetumal Boulevard.
The PPA notified the Othón P. Blanco City Council of its resolution and fine against the Ministry of Public Works (SEOP) for the felling of the 31 mature trees. The felling of those trees were not part of the project, nor did the agency have environmental permits to remove them.
The document determined that due to the damage caused to the site, the Secretary of Public Works, headed by William Conrado Alarcón, must carry out the reforestation of regional trees with tall statures of a 4 meter minimum.
The head of SEOP is also obliged to comply with a bond policy for 2.6 million peso to guarantee that the work to remediate the damage caused by the felling of 31 trees without authorization are carried out within a term of 20 business days.
The amount was calculated based on the opinion prepared by the Mexican Association of Agriculture of Mexico.
In their final ruling, the PPA also urged municipal authorities of Othón P. Blanco to train their personnel in environmental matters, in addition to equipping them with the necessary equipment and geographic information management systems in order to strengthen their environmental inspection, verification and administrative procedures.
