A spokesman for the Caucedo Multimodal project says the Boca Chica Tourism Development Association is running an “intense misinformation campaign” against the megaport. Samuel Conde was responding to media reports last week that quoted Boca Chica hoteliers saying the port will damage the beach and the coral reef. They also complained that the port is too close to an AES natural gas tank and that the developers still haven’t received a license from the Environment Department. Conde told DR1News that US standards require only 1,000 meters as a buffer zone around gas tanks in which no industrial activities can take place. He clarified that there is also a two-mile “no traffic” zone in which no other marine vessels can pass while a natural gas carrier is entering or leaving the port. He said all safety and regulatory matters had to be “looked into in great detail” since the project is funded by the World Bank. The developers submitted an environmental impact study to the government and are expecting the Environment Department to issue a license soon. Conde stressed that no construction will proceed until then. Conde said, “These studies have shown that… no adverse impacts would be generated by the project while on the other hand bringing never-before thought of well being and socio-economic development opportunities to the dramatically impoverished people and economy of the Andres and Boca Chica areas, where unemployment fringes on the 60% mark!” Conde says he doesn’t understand why the Boca Chica Tourism Association is so opposed to the project since “we firmly believe that they will all benefit tremendously from the development.”
