Puerto Plata. Despite the fact that there are several court rulings that prohibit the erection of a construction, the promoters of a tourism project continue to insist on removing public access to Playa Encuentro from the municipal district of Cabarete.
For years they have been wanting to impose a hotel project in this locality located in the eastern part of Puerto Plata, with which, according to environmentalists, it is intended to privatize the 60 meters from the high tide.
The project promoted by the Calpe company has allegedly closed several times the public and vehicular access that Encuentro beach has for more than 100 years and even sued community members, lawyers and foreigners for walking in the 60 meters that are public domain.
The president of the Association for the Protection of the Environment and Tourism in the Cabarete and Sosúa Zone (Asoprocaso), Michel Gay-Crosier, proposes that the Government take Playa Encuentro into its hands with a patronage or co-management, to avoid that the promoters end up appropriating a public good that does not belong to them.
Gay Crosier said that said project, whose owner has never seen his face, is going to build within 60 meters of public domain, which is prohibited by law 305-68 and it is sustained that he is going to make a large investment, but he himself has flouted court rulings, closing public access to Playa Encuentro and harassing community members, lawyers and foreigners.
It alleges that the promoters of the project had a strong link with the authorities of the previous government, to the point that the Public Ministry never authorized the public force to open the access, despite the fact that a sentence from a civil court in Puerto Rico ordered it. Silver. He said that, in October 2021, with the new government, the sentence was complied with and with the help of the security forces, the public vehicular access to Encuentro beach was opened and after that they tried to close the access again in total illegality.
