Diario Libre has been following closely the government dealings regarding how a private developer obtained permission to build in a protected area. Environmentalists demand that the Public Prosecutor’s Office investigate how the company received the permits within the Pedernales province protected area.
Coalition for Protected Areas members, Yolanda León and Luis Carvajal urge that the authorities clarify the mechanism the Bucanye developers used to violate the current regulations so that the Real Estate Jurisdiction (Jurisdiccion Immobiliaria) would issue the title certificates within a protected area.
“These facts violate the Sector Law of Protected Areas that establishes in article 9 that the lands belonging to the state that make up the national system of protected areas are imprescriptible and inalienable and no private right can be constituted over them,” the members of the Coalition for Protected Areas said upon depositing the document in the Attorney General’s Office in April 2023.
Bucanyé is a tourism project being developed by the company Oceanus Investment, of Dominican and Spanish capital. The company says it has property titles for nearly 14 million square meters most of which are located within Lot 40 of Pedernales, corresponding to the National Recreation Area Playa de Cabo Rojo – Pedernales, a category VI protected area also known as BucánYe.
Diario Libre has been covering the controversy between environmental groups, Oceanus Investment, the Public Private Partnership Agency (on behalf of President Luis Abinader), the Ministry of Environment and the state. Environmentalists argue there was fraud in the sale of Lot 40 and its respective subdivisions by private individuals, who sold between 2009 and 2015 the properties to Oceanus Investment within a protected area.
Meanwhile, the developer argues the Pedernales beach land was legitimately purchased, and Salvador Catrain, lawyer for the Pedernales developer, shared documents that he says back the position with the Diario Libre. Salvador Catrain is the son of Samana senator Pedro Catrain (PRM).
Environmentalist Luis Carvajal says his Facebook and Instagram accounts were hacked. Carvajal has been one of the voices arguing the Oceanus property titles were irregularly obtained. He said his last post on Facebook established his position regarding the Bucanye controversy.
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
16 May 2023