The undersecretary of the portfolio, Gerardo Amarilla, said that they are still reviewing citizens’ demands.
The controversial tower project in Punta Ballena still stands according to Ministry of Environment, an initiative that is strongly rejected by the citizens and even the mayor of Maldonado, Enrique Antía.
The Undersecretary of Environment, Gerardo Amarilla, commented on the status of the Punta Ballena project and assured that it is still standing. In that sense, he said that the portfolio is currently receiving all complaints from citizens and that, later, it will be his turn to analyze them.
“To the Ministry of Environment It has to be the point of balance between development, investment, work, the exercise of law – as in this case that of property – and, on the other hand, the care of the environment, the landscape and biodiversity,” Amarilla explained.
After the analysis, the leader assured that the next step is a public audience and then “consider the expectations of the project and the considerations of the people”, with the aim of preserving the environment. Meanwhile, a date for the public hearing has not yet been agreed upon, although Amarilla stressed that it will be announced well in advance so that citizens can participate in it.
The rejection of the neighbors and the Municipality
Upon learning about the project, neighbors and organizations opened a page on the Change platform to request the expropriation of the property and in a few days they added more than 36,000 signatures, arguing that the real state development uncontrolled and voracious in the coastal zone has been common in recent decades.”
In their complaint, they asserted that “the continuous authorization of exceptions to the regulations by the departmental governments has negatively impacted the entire coast of Maldonado and now specifically in one of the icons of our country.”
Regarding this complex in particular, they warned that “it would generate irreversible impacts, not only to the unique ecosystem of the place, but also to the Uruguayan culture Yet the tourist industry of national and international scope.
For its part, the mayor Antía He assured that he will “defend” Punta Ballena from the potential construction of this building complex with 320 apartments.
“We have some ideas about it,” he said then. Antíaadding that “it is clear that this was signed in the government of the Broad Front (FA) and they had authorized 37 buildings, not 29 as they appear now, we don’t know why, because the mayor’s office has no information.”
“We believe that 29 (buildings) are too many,” he commented. Antíawho stated that “we should protect the tip of Punta Ballena to the death so that there is nothing there, even.”
Source: Ambito
