Puerto Morelos, Q.R. — The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) continues to analyze the environmental permits for a 407-room hotel in the municipality of Puerto Morelos. The hotel, which is being promoted by Banco Ve por más, would amount to an investment of $90 million USD.
The hotel project consists of a modular set of four levels each with covered and uncovered areas located within the polygonal of the El Cid project, however, the investment project could be affected by the recent suspension of the municipality’s Urban Development Program (PDU) ordered by a judge in the northern zone of Quintana Roo.
The judicial determination obliges Puerto Morelos authorities that any civil works that are intended to be built must adhere to the previous PDU of the youngest municipality in the state.
The PDU is the instrument that regulates the densities, vocations and other parameters of urban development of the municipality.
“Regionally, the project site is located northeast of the state of Quintana Roo in the municipality of Puerto Morelos, this being the most recently created municipality in the state bordering the Caribbean Sea, approximately 35 kilometers south of the city of Cancun and 32 from the city of Playa del Carmen on the strip known as Riviera Maya.
“Locally, it is located between the port areas of the ferry dock and the Punta Tampa breakwater,” reads the Environmental Impact Statement.
In the event that Semarnat approves the construction of the hotel, the promoting firm, Banco Ve por Más SA Fideicomiso 321, must process the municipal construction license, but the court order orders that the new PDU be suspended and the parameters of the previous one be applied, under which this work was not designed.
The precautionary measure decreed by the Second District Court established that urban development authorizations must be in accordance with the Official Mexican Standard NOM-022-SEMARNAT, which establishes guidelines for the preservation, conservation and sustainable use and restoration of coastal wetlands in mangrove areas.
“It is made clear that this suspension does not have the effect of prohibiting the issuance of permits or licenses, authorizations, only that they will not be issued in accordance with the Urban Development Program of the Puerto Morelos Population Center 2020-2030,” reads the resolution of the judge.
On March 4 of this year, the Puerto Morelos Cabildo approved the program.
