Playa del Carmen Reports Over 11,000 Permits and 46 Closures for Environmental Violations

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — Municipal environmental officials issued 11,635 operating permits for establishments in Playa del Carmen and Puerto Aventuras, logged 338 environmental complaints and processed 292 applications related to tree felling or vegetation removal, according to figures released by the municipal Directorate of Environmental Regulation.

Orlando García González, who heads the department, said the same period brought 46 closures of businesses or properties that lacked permits to clear vegetation or that failed to comply with the conditions attached to their authorizations.

Among the enforcement actions he highlighted were closures of open-air garbage dumps. He urged residents to keep reporting such sites so that authorities can act on them.

García González said environmental paperwork rose compared with the first year of the current administration, with roughly 2,000 additional filings. The number of authorized vegetation-removal permits also grew, by about 40 over the administration’s first year.

He also pointed to operations that resulted in the closure of real estate projects and properties where suspected environmental violations were detected.

Among recent cases, he cited Legacy by Awa, in Playacar, a proceeding in which other authorities also took part.

Other actions have taken place at various points across the municipality, he said, including a property on Calle 4 Norte in the Terra real estate development, where illegal logging was detected, as well as cases in Puerto Aventuras and at a site in Xcalacoco, next to the Bepensa bottling plant.

García González said monitoring will continue and repeated his call for residents to report activity that could harm the environment, particularly the improper disposal of waste and the removal of vegetation without proper authorization.