Puerto Morelos, Q.R. — The municipality is preparing to regulate public services by issuing fines to people who throw garbage in public spaces. The ability to issue fines is being prepared by the department of Public Services and is expected to be approved by Puerto Morelos City Council this year.
Leonel Salazar Trejo, the Director of Puerto Morelos Municipal Public Services, said they are creating the new regulations to be able to fine people who throw unwanted items onto public property.
“In order to regulate the operation of the Municipal Public Services Secretariat and to expose the people of Puerto Morelos to the sanctions to which they may be subject if they throw garbage, unused furniture, plant material resulting from pruning or gravel on public roads, we undertook the preparation of the corresponding regulations which must be approved first by the City Council,” he explained.
The official said that, following the creation of the Municipal Secretariat of Public Services in October, they began drafting the corresponding regulations, which will define, among other things, the rights and obligations of taxpayers.
He explained that in its first years as a municipality, Puerto Morelos applied to its residents, in a supplementary manner, the same regulations of Benito Juárez (Cancun), the municipality to which it previously belonged. He said since then, progress has been gradually made in the development of its own regulations.
“This area previously belonged to the Secretariat of Public Works and Services, but when the Secretariat was established, it became necessary to have its own regulations. This is of utmost importance so that our actions are supported by a legal framework. We trust that the Council will help us in due time to move this forward,” he said.
According to Salazar Trejo, the regulations will define, for example, when a warning or financial penalty may be applied to those who throw garbage in the streets or illegal dumping sites. He said that behavior affects everyone as it threatens public health and damages the tourist image, which is the economic axis of the municipality.
Elaborating on the issue, the official said that despite the fact that a WhatsApp number is available to the population (998 389 7989) to which they can request Public Services transfer plant material from pruning or unused furniture for confinement, many people insist on leaving it on public roads.
“There are even those who throw their garbage on avenues and medians when it is the responsibility of everyone who builds, whether it is an individual who builds his home or a construction company, to leave his construction waste and take charge of its removal,” he added.
“For the moment, we can only politely ask people not to engage in this type of behavior because we have no legal basis to sanction them, but with the support of the City Council, we hope to soon have the corresponding regulations,” he said.
