I received a flood of emails a couple of days ago about the latest project proposal for the Punta Arena/El Rincon area of the East Cape. For those of you who were hiding out the past four years, or who have never heard of the East Cape, that's the same place that the late "Cabo Cortes" mega-project was going to be built. Cabo Cortes was cancelled by former Mexican President Felipe Calderone in June 2012. Shortly after, another proposal was submitted under the name "Los Pericues," but that one also failed to move forward. Now we have Cabo Dorado, the third and latest big project proposed for this part of the East Cape.
Cabo Dorado literally means "Golden Cape," although it could be a reference to one of the most sought after prizes for many sport-fishing enthusiasts in Baja (a.k.a. Mahi-mahi or
Coryphaena hippurus). When I first heard the name I thought of "
tacos dorados," which are small, rolled up, fried tacos you can find all over Mexico. However, I doubt the developers behind Cabo Dorado are planning on rolling up and frying Punta Arena--but you never know. Hard to tell what they are going for at this point, since there doesn't appear to be a website for the project yet. Here's a summary of the project from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Switchboard Blog:
For the third time, the threat of massive coastal tourism and
real-estate development has returned to Cabo Pulmo National Park, one of
the world’s most robust marine reserves and home to a critically
important coral reef system. The new mega-resort project, now called
“Cabo Dorado”, is proposed for the exact same spot where the Cabo Cortés
development was planned. From the looks of it, the project is not much
different from prior versions, raising the specter that Cabo Pulmo’s
fragile coral reef and the local community’s fresh water supply could
once more be at risk.
The local group the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA) will
be formally calling for a public meeting and consultation to ensure
people are adequately informed about the project plans and the potential
social and environmental impacts, but here’s what we know so far about
Cabo Dorado:
- The 3,770 hectare project is proposed on the same lands - just north
of and adjacent to the Cabo Pulmo reserve - where first [...] Cabo Cortés and later Los Pericúes were proposed.
- This new iteration of the mega-resort would be built in five phases at a cost of at least 3.6 billion dollars.
- The project would include the equivalent of 22,500 rooms distributed over 9 hotels and more than 6,000 residences.
- There would be two golf courses, sports facilities, beach clubs, a
14 kilometer aqueduct and other facilities and infrastructure. The
project plan also proposes to construct a new airstrip on the site.
- A project of this scale and scope would generate 711,900 kilograms
of waste per day and could extract up to 4.8 million cubic meters of
water from the local aquifer of this arid, desert region.
- Apart from the proximity to the fragile Cabo Pulmo coral reef and
the marine life it supports, the proposed project site is home to 26
species considered at risk under Mexican law, including endemic plant
species and endangered sea turtles.
Read the rest
here. It's going to get interesting on the East Cape again, no doubt about that. More updates soon.
