Hotel Papaya Playa apologizes for ecocide in Tulum
In yet another example of what several businessmen are doing in Quintana Roo against the environment, now it is the Papaya Playa Project Hotel that “asks for forgiveness”, after having carried out works without the corresponding permits in the coastal and tourist zone of Tulum.
The 129-room complex, which has also been accused of having parties outside the authorized hours in the ninth municipality, presented its Environmental Impact Assessment (MIA) to the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) with the objective of regularizing the illegal works.
As read in the document that entered the General Directorate of Environmental Impact and Risk (DGIRA), “has the purpose of complying with the requirements of the Administrative Resolution number PFPA/4.1/2C.27.5/00018-18/016-18, dated November twenty-third, two thousand eighteen, issued by the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) in the State of Quintana Roo, and submit to the Environmental Impact Assessment Procedure the operation of the works and activities sanctioned by the same authority.”
The site is located on the Tulum-Boca Paila highway, at kilometer 4.5, and according to the proponent, “there will be no in-depth analysis of the criteria for site selection, in accordance with the precautionary principle inherent to Environmental Impact Assessment procedures”.
The project was built without a prior Environmental Impact Assessment and its corresponding authorization, and the construction and operation of the project began in 1987.
It was derived from the Ordinary Environmental Impact Inspection visit carried out by Profepa in June 2018, when the administrative resolution was issued, where sanctions and corrective measures were established ordering the promoter to comply with them and obtain the Environmental Impact authorization for the construction and operation of the works detected during the inspection visit.
In addition to the 129 rooms, the hotel has areas for food and beverage consumption, a theater, beach club, swimming pools, relaxation areas, such as a temazcal, commercial areas and even a wastewater treatment plant; all in an area of 86,217.77 square meters that Semarnat will now have to analyze to determine whether to grant this permit.
It is worth mentioning that in the year 2022, Papaya Playa Project tried to ask for forgiveness, but the federal agency did not accept it when rejecting the project, so now it is doing it for the second time.
