The Superior Administrative Court (TSA), the court that reviews the correct application of government regulations, called for the suspension of Environmental Permit 3771-19 that had been issued by the Ministry of Environment under Minister Ángel Estévez. The permit allowed for the construction of a lodging project in the Guaraguao-Punta Catuano recreational area in Cotubanamá National Park in La Altagracia province. Environmental groups rejected the authorization. The measure calls for the stopping of construction of the ecological hotel undertaken by the Spanish group Globalia.
Sentence 0030-01-2020, of the TSA, comes months later, after the Executive Branch had suspended the construction work of the complex, “until an integral study of all the legal and regulatory norms is carried out, as well as the international commitments in environmental matters applicable to this protected area”.
The court’s ruling is in answer to a precautionary measure initiated by the Institute of Lawyers for the Protection of the Environment, the National Environmental Assembly, the Acción Verde Foundation, the Association of Incoming Tour Operators of the Dominican Republic and six individuals, against the Ministry of the Environment and the commercial company Proyecto Bayahibe.
Ecologist Luis Carvajal called the TSA measure a win for the environmental movement.
“It is just a battle in the framework of a war against economic interests lacking in scruples, social sensitivity and ethical limits,” the expert said in a press release.
Carvajal said: “We are still fighting to stop the destruction in forests such as those in Sierra de Bahoruco and Valle Nuevo, which are the guarantors of the nation’s water resources.”
He said Dominican environmental groups are demanding the restoration of the Manolo Tavárez Justo National Park, “eliminated to allow the advance of sawmills over native forest, the expansion of extensive cattle ranching and mining concessions.
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Super7FM
3 July 2020