Judge stops the construction of a fourth cruise ship dock in Cozumel

Cancún, QRoo.- The judiciary granted the definitive suspension that prevents the construction of the fourth cruise ship dock in Cozumel, until the amparo proceeding is fully resolved.

Said amparo was filed with the number of file 62/2022 in the Third District Court in Cancun, in charge of Judge Pamela López Swain who admitted the lawsuit on January 28, 2022.

The judge’s resolution paralyzes the administrative acts or procedures related to the concession title granted in favor of the firm Muelles del Caribe for the construction of the fourth cruise ship dock in Cozumel, that is, that the company cannot do any type of work until the amparo trial is resolved, explained the lawyer for the complainants, Carlos Odriozola.

The judge considered that, with the suspension granted, irreparable damage to the environment is avoided, the matter of the trial is kept alive and an effective protection of the fundamental right to the environment is allowed.

“In addition, the precautionary principle is observed as one of the guiding axes of environmental law, as well as the interest of society. The ruling also anticipates that the effects of the claimed acts may cause irreparable damage to the adjacent environment of the ecosystem in which the people promoting the amparo live, “said the lawyer.

The suspension was also granted without demanding any guarantee from the complainants.

The constitutional hearing of the case was set for April 27, although it will surely be postponed, the litigant advanced.

In a previous instance, Judge López Swain considered that the promoters of the amparo legitimately represent the interests of the inhabitants of Cozumel and fight for the right to the city and to the environment of the people, which is why she granted in February of this year the temporary suspension of the work.

Antecedent

In December 2021, the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) granted the environmental impact permit for the construction of the fourth cruise ship dock in Cozumel, despite the environmental effects that the project implies and the manifest opposition of inhabitants and organizations. island environmentalists.

The dock is one of the 39 projects that make up the Agreement for Economic Reactivation signed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with the private initiative, at the beginning of October last year. The company Muelles del Caribe is the one that will execute the project.

According to Environmental Impact Statement (MIA), the work 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 (on Rafael E. Melgar Avenue at kilometer 3+625), as well as in the marine area and in the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone (Zofemat).

The proposed structure will have an “L” shape and will cover an area of ​​1.16 ha, which will allow the mooring of vessels up to 362 meters in length. It will be built on steel piles and prefabricated concrete slabs. It will be made up of an access bridge or footbridge and the docking platform. Its rudeness will begin in the Federal Maritime-Terrestrial Zone (Zofemat), which is devoid of coastal vegetation. The area not occupied by the dock structure in the Zofemat will be used for the placement of a dock-type platform, it is added in the MIA.

In the land area, a two-level building called “Cruise Terminal” will be built. It will have an area of ​​1.1 ha, with the aim of serving as a reception for the boarding and disembarkation of passengers; It will have premises for establishments of different types, restrooms, parking lots, a luggage storage area, offices, among other uses.

environmental conditions

Semarnat determined the approval of the work, but under a series of conditions that require the promoting company to present an environmental management plan for the area that will impact the work, as well as the application of prevention, mitigation and environmental compensation measures.

The agency reports that in the area where the dock will be built “the presence of 7 species of flora and 4 species of fauna that are cataloged in some category of risk is reported, in accordance with the provisions of NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 ”, which implies that the company must pay a “guarantee”, the amount of which has yet to be determined, in addition to having to appoint “an environmental supervisor, who will have the objective of evaluating the execution and operation of the project in the terms stated and giving follow-up to the application of the environmental management program, to various programs derived from it and will carry out evaluations of their efficiency and effectiveness, all autonomously from the promoter and whoever executes the environmental management program”.