Mexican environmental authorities have levied a US$555,000 fine against a project to build a massive trade center south of Cancun which would showcase Chinese products.
Mexico’s attorney general for environmental protection late on Thursday said that the fine was for building roads through wetlands and affecting coastal ecosystems without authorization.
The office said the project known as Dragon Mart did not wait for the authorization of environmental impact statements. It was unclear whether work on the project just south of Cancun would be closed, because the case is still before the courts.
Dragon Mart, located just south of the resort of Cancun, describes itself as an “international product exhibition center ... with a special emphasis on China.” The company said in a statement to reporters that it was studying the ruling but did not believe that the project had caused any environmental damage.
The project has been criticized because of its sprawling size — about 142 hectares of residential, warehouse and exhibition space — and because of concerns about deforestation and the massive quantities of wastewater it would create.
Environmentalists said on Friday the fines were a positive step, but called for the project to be halted or scaled down.
United Voice for Puerto Morelos activist Rosa Elisa Rodriguez called the fines “a first step.”
“I think there are a lot of things behind this that must be investigated, such as how they could have gotten [construction] permits without having realized the need for environmental impact statements,” Rodriguez said. “If the laws were really correctly enforced, I think this [project] should not continue, or if it does, in a much more controlled way.”
The decision is the latest episode in an ongoing battle against nearly uncontrolled development along the coast south of Cancun, an area known as the Riviera Maya.
Residents of the island of Cozumel have filed complaints against a project to expand the cruise ship dock there.
The Ocean Futures Society’s Rodrigo Navarro said the cruise port operators are sinking pilings into the ocean floor without putting up the protective membranes that were supposed to protect surrounding coral beds from sediment kicked up by the project or potential oil spills.
Navarro also said the new arm of the cruise ship dock would force ships to maneuver only 22m away from the national coral reef park near Cozumel, a popular spot with divers, which might force temporary bans on diving when ships pull in, in order not to endanger divers.
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