Puerto Morelos, Q.R. — The Quintana Roo Comprehensive Port Administration (Apiqroo) says plans for a fourth pier for Cozumel will be removed. The removal will see the Aipqroo master plan updated to cancel long term plans for another pier.
Vagner Elbiorn Vega, the Director of Apiqroo (Administración Portuaria Integral de Quintana Roo) explained that the fourth pier was part of a long-term master plan set out by the federal agency years before.
He said that Apiqroo is reworking their five-year master plan which still includes a deep sea port, but not for the island of Cozumel. He says Apiqroo intends to build a deep-sea port in Punta Brava near Puerto Morelos.
He explained that the state government has already paid approximately 3 million pesos to a company to conduct a prefeasibility study for the construction of a deep-sea port.
“We conducted several research processes in both the center and the south to determine where a deep-sea port would be feasible and Puerto Morelos, near a place known as Punta Brava, was the ideal location,” he said.
Elbiorn Vega stated that the prefeasibility study commissioned by the company was positive both legally and environmentally. Therefore, starting now and into the month of December, they will begin a tour with federal agencies including Semarnat (National Securities and Exchange Commission), Profepa (Profepa), the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Economy and the Navy, among others, to consolidate the project and conduct the corresponding studies.
He reiterated that Governor Mara Lezama’s administration has no intention of building another pier on Cozumel adding that at the end of July, a request was sent to the National Directorate of the Merchant Marine to eliminate the planned construction of a fourth pier on the island of Cozumel from the executive construction plan for this five-year period.
He said the current administration’s Master Plan is not a finished plan, only a projection. “The master plan isn’t a finished plan. It’s a projection of what can be achieved and this Cozumel pier project is one that has been dragging on for two six-year terms.”
He said that Alicia Ricalde, the former Director of Apiqroo, left those plans to this state administration, “however, we’ve already sent a letter to the National Directorate of the Merchant Marine asking them to remove it from the master plan construction project. We decided to remove the fourth pier project so there would be no future misunderstandings.”
He says sometime in September, the planned fourth pier for Cozumel will no longer be included in the Apiqroo Master Plan.
In July, Apiqroo completed a pre-feasibility, environmental, engineering and legal work study to determine the viability of building a new industrial complex. The industrial complex would be constructed in Puerto Morelos over 130 hectare area outside the reef zone on land donated to the state more than 15 years ago.
The new Puerto Morelos port would become the logistics hub that would connect the Maya Train with the Interoceanic Corridor.
