The Broad Front bench and groups of residents of the Buenos Aires resort, Maldonado, are gathering signatures to repeal the departmental decree N° 4056, which grants permission to proceed with the construction of the private real estate project Marina Beach, a complex with hotels, residences and berths for boats and sailboats that would destroy dunes on the coast.
The environmental impact is what worries the FA and the neighbors, but this did not seem to be of consideration for the Departmental Board of Maldonado (JDM) or for the Ministry of Environment of the government of Luis Lacalle Pou. The opposition caucus will present a legal action against the administration of Mayor Enrique Antía and the Ministry of the Environment for what they see as breaches of environmental protection, as explained to the press by the mayor of the Front, Joaquín Garlo.
The legislator described The project is “insane” and denounced that the Antía government and the JDM rejected various reports from environmental organizations and professors from the Eastern Regional University Center (CURE) that warn of the negative environmental impact of this marina. Additionally, the FA bench claims to have found 15 irregularities in the administrative procedures that were ignored by the legislators of the multicolored coalition.
Crossed interests?
The Minister of the Environment, Adrián Peña, gave his approval and his signature to the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the PAI Marina Beach project, despite the fact that the ministry’s technical offices warned that the project is unfeasible and that the impact on the natural coastal area is negative. They even pointed out faults in departmental and national regulations.
Finally, the FA is concerned that four of the five mayors of the coalition, who make up the Public Works Commission and who signed the report with a majority in favor, are real estate agents in Maldonado.
