Yvonne Arias called the announcement of construction of new hotels in the southwest beach areas premature, as reported in El Caribe newspaper on 11 April issue. The spokesperson for the Coalition for the Defense of Protected Areas sent letters notifying this situation to Pedro Canellas, president of the Federacion Empresarial Hotelera de Mallorca, to Juan Jose Hidalgo of Globalia, Pablo Pinero of Grupo Pinero, Luis Riu of Grupo Riu, Miguel Fluxa of Grupo Iberostar and Simon Barcelo of Grupo Barcelo. In the letters, she explains that the publication of the new Sectorial Law of Protected Areas only changed the category of the coastal land of the Parque del Este (La Altagracia province) and Parque Jaragua (Pedernales park). She says the coveted beach areas are still part of the parks system, and thus hotels cannot be built within their limits.
The Sectorial Law changed from national park category sections in Parque del Este, and Bahia de las Aguilas in Parque Jaragua in the Southwest. These areas were designated “protected landscape” areas in the newly approved Sectorial Law.
“In no case is it possible to legally build hotels within any property that is part of the national system of protected areas of the Dominican Republic,” she writes on occasion of Spanish investors expressing their interest in participating in the hotel development of the area. The Ministry of Tourism is promoting this development. Arias said she has not received an answer to her letter.
The Coalition for the Defense of Protected Areas is made up by more than 50 organizations, including the National Hotel & Restaurant Association, the American Chamber of Commerce, the Academy of Sciences, Grupo Jaragua, among others.