Quintana Roo Wins SEMARNAT Approval to Restore 33.5 Km of Beaches

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Quintana Roo has secured SEMARNAT’s environmental impact authorization to restore 33.5 kilometers of beach across the municipalities of Benito Juárez, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen and Cozumel, state Secretary of Ecology and Environment Óscar Rébora Aguilar announced.

The official said the federal agency granted the approval on August 12. The authorization covers 13 kilometers in Benito Juárez, six in Puerto Morelos, 12 in Playa del Carmen and about 1.5 kilometers on Cozumel, and includes the offshore sand banks that can be tapped for the work.

“The intention is to recover the main asset the destination has, which is its beaches,” Rébora Aguilar said.

Additional Studies Required

The secretary said the ruling carries a series of conditions that the state government is already addressing. The most significant, conditions nine and 10, require officials to develop a detailed executive project for an additional seven kilometers in Benito Juárez and Puerto Morelos, an extension of a previously granted authorization.

That project will set out how the coastal dune and other ecosystems will be restored, the mechanisms for replenishing sand along the shoreline, and more extensive bathymetric studies of the seabed.

The document is being drafted, and the department expects to submit it to SEMARNAT between November 12 and December 12. The federal agency must then validate it.

“It is a condition that we have to submit it and there has to be a validation, but the authorization is already in place,” Rébora Aguilar said.