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PDC mayor looking to reach agreement to keep Playa 88 public beach access open

Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — Playa del Carmen Mayor Lili Campos says her administration is working on keeping Playa 88 open to residents. In a press conference Tuesday, Campos said that City Council is analyzing challenging the decree of the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) that granted the CFE 200 square meters of the beach.

The beach area was granted to the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) late last week from where an underwater electric power line will run to the island of Cozumel.

During the press conference inside the new Municipal Palace, the mayor stressed that the City Council is not opposed to the project, but wants to ensure “the rights of citizens is not violated.”

Campos was referring to the announcement that not only has the CFE been granted 200 square meters of beach, but also beach access. Once the CFE starts work, the public beach access to Playa 88 will be closed.

Campos said that she will contact CFE authorities soon to learn details of the exact location of the granted beach area and what their project will entail. She said from there, they will try to reach an agreement to keep the public beach access open.

“We have no objection to work being carried out, however, it is important that we be able to establish communication with the CFE. The main detail here is that these projects are intended to be carried out in Playa 88.

“Our beach is already certified, it already has facilities (…) we would have to see if they are going to tear down our infrastructure and if yes, once they are finished, if they are going to allow people to go to the beach again,” she said.

If the two sides cannot reach an agreement, Campos said City Council will likely challenge the recently published decree.

“We know about their work, about the need that Cozumel has, but we must also take care of our beaches. For this reason, we are analyzing. If we do not reach an agreement we are going to challenge as an alternative,” she added.

Last week, the federal government, through Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Semarnat), granted the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) the use of 200 square meters of beach at Playa 88.

The beach area will be used for a project that will see just over 30 kilometers of electric cable run below ground to power the island of Cozumel. The CFE project is set for three stages.

The first and third stages will require underground cables, while the second stage will involve nearly 19 kilometers of electric cable being installed underwater. Playa 88 in Playa del Carmen has been chosen by Semarnat as the mainland area from where these cables will run.