Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — A real estate development in central Playa del Carmen has been closed for noncompliance. The Directorate of Regulation and Environmental Impact Assessment headed by Orlando García González, shut down the Playacar project Thursday.
According to García González, they paid a visit to the site after receiving a video Wednesday of displaced wild deer and machinery on the property. Once at the site, municipal inspectors confirmed noncompliance with the permits granted by the city.
García González said the Playacar developer had exceeded the authorized clearing limits and therefore, had not respected the vegetation areas that were required to be preserved.
“The development is completely closed. They didn’t respect the permits or the conditions granted to them,” said García González. He reported that the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) has already been notified to follow up on the development.
The area in Playacar was being cleared for the construction of a residential complex. García González explained that the developer was permitted to clear 15,000 square meters, however, they exceeded that clearing by 3,000 square meters.
He said aside from exceeding the permitted clearing area, the developer also failed to preserve the trees on the cleared land that were part of the permit agreement. “The permit is very specific in terms of authorized square meters and vegetation,” he said.
“Development is completely suspended. The company failed to comply with the conditions of its environmental permit so we proceeded to place closure seals,” García explained.
The Ministry of Sustainable Environment and Climate Change will also impose fines on the company. Those, he said, will likely be in addition to the fine imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (PPA), who have also intervened.
