|
After several months of revising and few days before end of Fox administration, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) approved the development of the "Marina Fonatur" and "Marina San Miguel", two projects that will have a huge impact on the Island, both social and economic.
Marina Fonatur The Marina Fonatur project is simply the renewal and expansion of the Marina Cozumel that's right next to the Presidente Intercontinental Hotel. The project is being fueled by the Tourism National Fund (FONATUR) and will require an investment of little more than $21 million dollars, just to get the normal urban services in the property.  This project was once presented on 2005 but was filed due to lack of information and resurfaced in mid 2006, again to get blocked by the cove's users that feared were going to get evicted once the project got underway.
Now SEMARNAT just approved the project on November 9, 2006. The plan consists in draining and extending the current marina to allow docking for 332 vessels of less than 60 feet. The available land is 134 acres where construction will take place to accommodate 854 hotel rooms, 418 condos and 55 residential units, and the surrounding commercial infrastructure.  One of the main ecological concerns that was stopping the project was the cenote "El Aerolito", which FONATUR promised to leave untouched in order to get the 23QR2006T0043 permit from the SEMARNAT's General Management of Environmental Impact and Risk.
The marina will have the main services like fresh water, electricity, phone, Satellite TV, gas and diesel, migratory paper-work office, radio, emergency and rescue, towing and dispatch. It will also provide weather information, information for tourists, navigation helpdesk, office services, computers and Internet, as well as fishing bait and gear, repair shop and dry docking. With this development, FONATUR is expecting to create new jobs, attract a better kind of tourism and foreign investment, sell and rent in a good price, and thus increase the regional development. FONATUR says that the real estate sold right now will only be residential, condos do not have a schedule yet. The project is quite needed in Cozumel due to the lack of infrastructure available right now with only 175 berths and no real dry marina. 
Marina San Miguel  The Marina San Miguel Project is also placed in Cozumel and was approved late last year. This marina is being promoted by Cozumel's City Council and it will include extending the jetty to facilitate access to vehicles without affecting traffic from the main Avenue and the construction of a yacht pier in front of the museum "Museo de la Isla". The oceanfront that will be used for this marina will run 853 feet from 2 to 8 North streets.
This marina will serve mainly to the sport and recreational ships but will have a public space. With a capacity of 50 slips and a pier for mega yachts, it will not function as an inner harbor but will have gas and supplies for vessels. |
