Riviera Maya, Q.R. — A special committee to deal with the state’s more than 300 irregular settlements has been created. The State Committee for the Regularization of Human Settlements will oversee their regularization.
The Committee was created due to 50 years of unchecked growth which has had both a social and ecological impact on the state.
José Alberto Alonso Ovando, the head of the Secretariat of Sustainable Urban Territorial Development (Sedetus), says the Committee will coordinate efforts government, academia, and civil society to provide legal certainty and basic services to thousands of families living in vulnerable situations.
He reported that preliminarily, 370 irregular settlements have been detected in the state, a figure that could double once a detailed review is completed.
According to Alonso Ovando, the municipalities with the most irregular colonies are Cancun with 150, Isla Mujeres with 91 settlements, Othón P. Blanco with 37 irregular settlements and Puerto Morelos with 16.
Alonso Ovando warned of the urgent need to intervene in these areas, describing them as “no man’s land” where the lack of planning fosters serious problems such as domestic violence, crime, and human trafficking.
Speaking before Representative Hugo Alday Nieto, President of the Committee on Sustainable Urban Development and Metropolitan Affairs of the State Congress, Alonso Ovando highlighted the partnership with academia to generate public policies based on scientific research and create opportunities for students’ professional development.
The Rector of the University of the Caribbean, Lic. Xóchitl Carmona Bareño, celebrated the official creation of the committee led by Sedetus and reiterated the institution’s commitment to contribute knowledge with a humanistic focus and scientific backing through its research faculty and its Interinstitutional Center for Applied Research.
“Territorial development cannot be conceived solely from the perspective of infrastructure or regulations. It must focus on people, their communities, and the conditions of dignity, equity, and sustainability they deserve,” she stated.
During the event, Dr. Christine McCoy, a research professor at Unicaribe, presented critical data on the metropolitan area of Cancun and Isla Mujeres where 30% of the population (some 240,000 people and 60,000 families) lacks legal certainty.
The researcher contrasted the two realities of irregularity: on the one hand, low-income migrant settlements with a genuine need for housing and on the other, real estate developments resulting from speculation by developers and ejido members who sell lots without services or urban planning authorization.
As an example, she pointed out that since 1986 there have been 135 subdivisions without municipal incorporation documents.
Dr. McCoy’s historical analysis reveals that the problem began with the founding of Cancun in 1970 when construction workers lived in unplanned camps. By 2020, the city had grown to 14.5 times its original area, completely exceeding the projections of the master plans.
She said in 2019 alone, 11 developments covering 601 hectares and affecting more than 48,000 people were closed. The settlement also create extreme insecurity and violence due to a lack of police presence.
Dr. McCoy emphasized that solutions have failed for five decades not for lack of laws, but for lack of an integrated system.
“Information is fragmented, each municipality handles different data, and solutions have always been reactive rather than preventive, acting when the settlement already houses thousands of inhabitants.”
The Committee will work to address the known problems and create regularized settlements that can be integrated into their respective municipalities.
