Fonatur Weighs Options for Contested Malecón Tajamar Land in Cancún

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Fonatur, Mexico’s National Fund for Tourism Development, is studying what to do with the land at Malecón Tajamar, acknowledging that a significant portion of the site is privately owned and that any solution cannot be limited to environmental restoration alone.

Sebastián Ramírez Mendoza, the fund’s director general, said the priority remains protecting the mangrove, but he conceded the case must simultaneously address environmental, legal and property concerns.

He said the project faces a series of legal problems and that, for now, it is not viable to resume investments as originally planned.

Ramírez Mendoza explained that Fonatur is working with the Quintana Roo state government and the Benito Juárez municipal government on a solution that complies with a court ruling ordering protection of the mangrove, while also respecting the rights of private landowners and responding to lawsuits filed by some investors.

Changing Rules Raised the Bar

The official said the conflict grew more complicated because Mexico’s mangrove protection legislation changed after the project received its environmental authorization, raising the level of protection for those ecosystems.

He noted that the project’s environmental impact statement was never updated to reflect the new legal framework — one of the elements cited in the court ruling.

Ramírez Mendoza also questioned why legal responsibility was not pursued at the time against the development company that, according to his account, acted improperly, leaving Fonatur to face much of the legal fallout.

The local business sector has proposed reactivating the site under a significantly reduced real estate and commercial development plan. The Quintana Roo Association of Real Estate Developers (Adiqroo), which detailed the proposal, says it is under technical review and could become a new economic driver for the area.

State Ecology Office Rules Out Revival

Óscar Rébora Aguilera, Quintana Roo’s secretary of ecology and environment, denied that any proposal exists to restart the real estate project at the site, pushing back on claims by hotel and real estate executives that a plan is moving forward despite the court ruling.

“From the Secretariat there is no proposal to reactivate Tajamar,” he said. “Beyond the events that are held and for which we are sometimes asked for input — especially when there is an issue involving wildlife movement or situations of that kind — there is no concrete proposal to reactivate the Tajamar project.”

Rébora Aguilera said any question about use of the land falls more to urban authorities, and reiterated that his office has no initiative to revive the real estate development at Malecón Tajamar.