Cozumel, Q.R. — The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) has approved the construction of the fourth cruise ship dock in Cozumel, despite opposition from residents and environmentalists.
The dock is one of the 39 projects that make up the Agreement for Economic Reactivation that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador signed at the beginning of October last year.
According to the Environmental Impact Statement, the project will involve an investment of 511 million pesos. The pier will be located on the northwest coast of the island of Cozumel, both in the land area along Rafael E. Melgar Avenue, and in the marine area of the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone (Zofemat).
The structure will be L-shaped and will cover an area of 1.16 hectares that will allow the docking of vessels up to 362 meters in length. It will be built on steel piles and precast concrete slabs in accordance with the Environmental Impact Statement.
A two-level building called the Cruise Terminal, will be built on the land area. It will have an area of 1.1 ha, with the aim of serving as a reception for the boarding and disembarking of passengers. It will also offer bathrooms, parking, offices and luggage storage.
The Muelles del Caribe company says that the main criterion for selecting the project site is that the area has urban development land use in accordance with the Cozumel Population Center Urban Development Plan.
Semarnat determined the approval of the work, but under a series of conditions that oblige the promoting company to present an environmental management plan for the area that will be impacted by the project, as well as the application of prevention, mitigation and environmental compensation measures.