Mahahual, Q.R. — The Mahahual K’iin Community Centre was full Tuesday night for the public Royal Caribbean Perfect Day meeting. A public consultation was held between pre-registered residents and businesses followed by a Q&A session.
The public consultation was held by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) as part of the public consultation process for the project by company Cielo Asoleado S. de RL de CV.
The company, Cielo Asoleado, is responsible for the environmental impact statement for the Perfect Day Mahahual project. Work was temporarily halted by the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection in late January for “illegal construction and activities.”
The Tuesday night meeting focused on the evaluation corresponding to the General Directorate of Environmental Impact and Risk. Representatives of the upcoming project explained the technical and environmental aspects of the project.
During the meeting, many local businessmen expressed their support for the project saying the south has waited years for a tourism investment like this one.
Business representatives from Coparmex, AMPI, the College of Engineers and specialists from ITCh spoke in favor of the Perfect Day project citing the generation of jobs, housing and the revamping of already impacted areas.
Jorge Leonardo Sánchez Castillo, President of the College of Civil Engineers of Quintana Roo South Zone, said the Royal Caribbean project “represents a strategic opportunity to promote the orderly development of Mahahual and the southern region of the state, provided that it is executed with strict adherence to the technical, environmental and urban regulations.”
He said the support of the College of Civil Engineers is conditional upon the project respecting the compliance of the technical studies, adequate supervision of the projects and respect for environmental regulations.
The concerns were address after Greenpeace denounced that the company concealed the fact that there will be a direct impact on mangroves. The company claims that it is considering a restoration project.
The environmental group pointed out that the site will receive five times more tourists than the current population who reside in the town. The company countered the comment saying that the 21,000 cruise ship passengers is the number of tourists who already arrive in Mahahual, without the project.
Greenpeace recently warned that this will create strong pressure for the provision of services to a community with little drainage and water
Eduardo Marzuca Ferreiro, President of AMPI Chetumal, said the Perfect Day project internalizes “the high costs of ecological and urban mitigation that the state cannot assume on its own.”
He considered that the most robust mitigation measure in the Environmental Impact Statement is the full coverage of its capacity to process effluents from both the project and the local community, thereby halting the contamination of the water table and guaranteeing the ecological viability of the reef.
Jorge Manuel Tello Chan, professor at the Technological Institute of Chetumal and an expert in environmental issues, said “the Perfect Day project seeks to transform and revitalize the Mahahual region, focusing on sustainability and community development.
“The remediation of Mahahual is a key driver for urban development, allowing for the cleanup of deteriorated infrastructure and improving the local quality of life.”
He said an investment in the sanitary landfill is crucial for coordination with state and municipal governments, ensuring the reduction of environmental risks and the proper management of waste in Mahahual.
Osmany Palomo Hoil, President of Coparmex, pointed out that if the project is executed well, it will be a benchmark, and if it is executed poorly, it will be a problem. “We certainly want it to turn out well,” he stated.
“The risk of the project is not in what it promises, it is in how it is executed, particularly in environmental control on site, waste management, protection of vegetation, rescue of flora and fauna, water management and real supervision,” he added.
Project representatives explained the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement that is still under review, acknowledging the importance of the forum to hear the technical proposals and formal comments that will be considered in the project evaluation.
On January 30, the government of Mexico announced the closure of Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day Mahahual project.
Profepa (Procuraduria Federal de Proteccion al Ambiente) said the start of the project was shut down “after the documentation of filling and compaction activities on a dirt road in a low-lying coastal vegetation zone with mangroves, as well as demolition and debris removal work, all without the required environmental impact authorization from the competent federal authority.”
On March 27, Chetumal District Judge Eugenia Maritza Valencia Hernández lifted the closure ordered and executed by the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa). The injunction imposed January 29 against the clearing of land has been lifted.
The Port of Costa Maya revamp is a joint project between Promociones Turísticas Mahahual (who requested the recent change of land use) and Cielo Asoleado, who submitted the Environmental Impact Statement (MIA) for the project and also co-hosted the Tuesday meeting.
