2013News

Green light for Bahia de las Aguilas development?

In what could be a major shift for tourism, the senator for Pedernales, Dionis Sanchez, has confirmed the existence of a commission appointed by President Danilo Medina that reportedly has reached a “consensus” between the government and the people holding land titles in the area of the Bahia de las Aguilas (Bay of Eagles), located in the remote southwestern province.

He told Diario Libre that President Danilo Medina would be reporting on the agreements that have been reached for the tourism development of the southwestern area and the province of Pedernales.

“We want President Medina to make the announcement to the country soon. Pedernales is waiting and it is hoping to know that a solution to this conflict that is more than 15 years old and which has castrated the development of this province is at hand,” said the PLD senator.

While tourism projects were proposed when Felix Jimenez was Minister of Tourism in 2006, they were abandoned after the expert he invited from the World Tourism Organization, Francesc Giro, gave an adverse opinion based on the fragile ecosystem of the famous Bahia de las Aguilas beach area.

Max Puig, who was Minister of Environment at the time, opposed building hotel accommodation arguing that impact analyses carried out in Bahia de las Aguilas showed the area was environmentally fragile. Francesc Giro came as a guest of the Ministry of Tourism to examine the possibility of construction in the area and eventually also concluded that the area was extremely fragile.

At the time, Max Puig presented three additional reports that recommended against hotel construction in the area. Puig warned that building hotels in the bay would be a very big mistake. “It could be like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.” He stated that an alternative location for development could be the neighboring 17-kilometer stretch of beach from Cabo Rojo to Pedernales.

Read the complete 2006 report in Spanish that ended the discussion about building hotels of any kind in Bahia de las Aguilas at:

www.soeci.org/bahia/contraleybahia.html

But now it seems that President Danilo Medina backs those who support hotel development in the area.