Playa del Carmen Beach Restoration Clears Environmental Hurdle, Mayor Says

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Mexico’s Environment and Natural Resources Department (Semarnat) has approved the environmental impact statement for Playa del Carmen’s beach restoration project, Mayor Estefanía Mercado Asencio said, clearing the way for work to begin soon.

Mercado said the project will be carried out jointly with the state and federal governments. “It’s about to start. We’ll wait for the governor to join us, and we’ll explain where the funding comes from, but we already have the environmental impact statement and that is the most important thing,” she said in an interview after delivering her second annual government report.

The mayor said the result she considers most notable is progress on public safety, citing a 76% drop in homicides through July of this year. She attributed the gains in part to community engagement, noting that the safest places are those where neighbors know one another, and said her administration is working to strengthen those community ties.

As in her first year in office, she said, the biggest challenge of the past year was the arrival of sargassum seaweed. She said her government did not stand idly by, working to collect the seaweed and to provide incentives for a local economy hit hard by the influx.

Mercado also said her third year will bring major public works, including an eight-hectare alameda-style park bordering Mayakobá that will feature a small train and zip lines. She said she would provide further details on that project later.