Quintana Roo’s Crackdown on Unregulated Development Amid Maya Train Boom

The Quintana Roo government has revised sections of the Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection Law to halt illegal construction of new real estate developments that lack environmental impact authorization.

The new provisions, published in the Official Gazette of Quintana Roo, also apply to hotels over 1,200 square meters, restaurants, and shopping centers not located in federal jurisdiction areas. They also cover public and private bus stations, cargo centers, multimodal terminals, railway stations, airports, and development and educational, health, commercial, religious, or recreational centers larger than 1,000 square meters.

The legislation already prohibited building without environmental impact authorization. The revision means new constructions in the state cannot be registered with the Public Property Registry, and public notaries cannot certify acts, agreements, or contracts related to the sale or transfer of property rights without the corresponding authorizations.

This revision comes in response to the growth triggered by the construction of the Maya Train and the Tulum Airport. These projects have spurred the creation of new housing developments in the northern area of Quintana Roo.

Patricia Mora, president of the Mexican Association of Real Estate Professionals (AMPI), recently reported that the Benito Juárez (Cancun) city council closed 12,000 lots belonging to six to eight subdivisions in jungle areas. These lots were being built and marketed without construction licenses or permits.

Mora noted that this issue is not exclusive to Cancun. Tulum and Playa del Carmen are experiencing similar problems due to significant real estate investment around the Maya Train and the new airport. Between the end of 2023 and this year, the AMPI has accounted for over 600 real estate projects. The Cancun-Riviera Maya corridor has become an attractive area for vacation rental developments.

However, these investments often involve fraudsters who sell land in the jungle through social networks. They promise that the land will soon be municipalized and provided with basic services due to its proximity to the Maya Train or the airport.

In Tulum, the lands of the Jacinto Pat and Macario Gomez ejidos have tripled in value in recent months due to the new air terminal. A similar trend is observed in Lazaro Cardenas, a municipality at the northern end of Quintana Roo, where the Aldea Holbox and Nuna projects are already underway.

Environmentalists and professional colleges warn that uncontrolled growth will continue without well-defined and planned zoning tools that do not favor large developments.