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Mexico's bid to lure boaters a tough sale
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20051030-9999-1m30...
By Sandra Dibble
October 30, 2005
Mexican President Vicente Fox called it "a stairway to prosperity," a tourist mega-project to draw boaters and investors to the Gulf of California
region through a series of linked ports. Now 4? years later, the controversial Escalera Nautica, or Nautical Ladder, appears to be moving forward, but
with a new name and a broader mandate.
Rechristened El Proyecto Mar de Cort?s, or the Sea of Cortez Project, the plan calls for 28 nautical stops in five states, with 11 to be in place by
May, according to the Mexican tourism development agency, Fonatur. The plans also call for the completion by May of a "land bridge" that would allow
boats to be towed across the Baja California peninsula from Santa Rosalillita on the Pacific coast to Bahia de los Angeles.
"The impact is minimal," Francisco de la Vega Arag?n, a top Fonatur official, said during a recent visit to Tijuana. "What we're trying to do is
regulate and put in services for travelers."
But Fonatur's critics have been less than enthusiastic about the revised proposal, saying the agency hasn't made available detailed plans and that it
has a poor track record of following through. And while the stops themselves may be modest, environmental groups fear those stops could prompt
unregulated growth from private developers.
"Fonatur is like a chameleon," said Lorenzo Rosenzweig, executive director of the Mexican Nature Conservation Fund. "Every time they feel the heat of
criticism, they modify and change the name. It's a moving target."
The central idea, which predates the Fox administration, remains unchanged. Fonatur's plan is to encourage greater numbers of boaters ? most of them
from the United States ? to visit the region, eventually offering them a series of linked marinas no more than a day's sail apart. Some marinas are in
established ports such as La Paz and Mazatlan, while others are in isolated coastal communities with few amenities. Fonatur hopes that when the public
infrastructure is in place, the private sector will follow.
"We're coming to regions of great poverty, and bringing significant investment," said Archibaldo P?rez, an official with Singlar, a Fonatur subsidiary
that is developing the marinas. "Once we've developed a critical mass, private investment will join in."
As far as size of marinas, the new Proyecto Mar de Cort?s appears to be scaled down from the Escalera proposal. But the project also has expanded the
scope of the earlier proposal to include infrastructure in communities that lack basic services. It also contemplates the creation of "tourism
circuits" that would take visitors to inland cultural and natural sites.
Jos? Luis Luege Tamargo, Mexico's secretary of the environment, said this month that his agency has approved an overall land-use plan for the region
and is evaluating Fonatur's individual proposals for nautical stops.
The Fox administration's Escalera Nautica, launched in February 2001, initially envisioned 50,000 boats and 1 million visitors drawn annually to the
region by 2014, most of them from the western United States. Fonatur's proposal spoke of airports, golf courses and five-star hotels along some of
Mexico's most pristine shorelines. The Fox administration committed $220 million to the project, hoping to lure $1.7 billion in private investment.
Fonatur promised the Escalera Nautica would bring jobs and better standards of living to areas that have few schools, hospitals and economic
opportunities.
But environmental groups were fiercely critical of the plan, saying it would overwhelm and degrade a region much prized by naturalists. Earlier this
year, the United Nations bestowed "World Heritage Site" status on 244 uninhabited islands in the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez.
Despite the continued skepticism of environmental groups, Fonatur officials promoting the Proyecto Mar de Cort?s are saying their marine installations
will now be minimal.
"With the Escalera Nautica, they considered marinas that would be destinations. Now they're just marinas for transit," said Singlar's P?rez. "What
we're trying to do will have a very low impact."
But Fonatur has done little to alleviate fears. The agency's Web site provides few specifics of what it intends to build, such as how many boat slips
are planned at the marinas scheduled to open next year. P?rez said the information is still being loaded onto a Web site: http://www.regionmardecortes.com
Fonatur officials interviewed in Tijuana this month gave some information about their plans. The agency plans to spend $26 million on the project in
the state of Baja California, de la Vega said. Of the 11 stops to be opened on the mainland and the peninsula, five will get a range of public
projects, such as sewage treatment plants, streets, drainage systems and sea walls. Fonatur is developing master plans to guide future growth, de la
Vega said.
He said the centerpiece of the project ? the "land bridge" allowing boats to be towed between Santa Rosalillita and Bahia de los Angeles, thus
avoiding a lengthy trip around the peninsula ? should be complete next year. Construction of a key stretch of the road that runs through the Valle de
los Cirios, a protected area, was stopped because the federal Secretariat for Communications and Transportation failed to obtain an environmental
permit; an official with the secretariat said this month that it has been given the green light.
The marinas at Bahia de los Angeles and Santa Rosalillita, which have elicited concern from environmental groups, will have slips for no more than 30
boats under the new plan, de la Vega said.
He said that to minimize environmental impacts, Fonatur is looking into placing floating marinas at four locations in the Gulf of California. One
could be at Bahia de los Angeles. The community of 600 is a particularly sensitive location because it's a launching point to the central gulf and the
focus of conservation projects.
At the western end of the land bridge, in Santa Rosalillita, breakwaters for a new marina are already in place, but environmentalists say constant
dredging will be required as ocean currents wash in sand.
"It's a disaster," said Fernando Ochoa, of Environmental Defense of the Northwest. "The effect on the coastline has been terrible. There have been no
benefits to the community."
Singlar's P?rez said the accumulations will end once the marina is in operation. Santa Rosalillita residents will soon see improvements, Fonatur
officials say, with amenities such as a gas station, a sewage treatment plant and an electric generator.
Fonatur is also building marinas in larger communities such as La Paz in Baja California Sur, and marina owners there say they aren't needed.
"There are low occupancy rates already," said Malcom Shroyer Shoen, regional vice president for the Mexican Association of Tourist Marinas. "They
should build where nobody else is building. Except for Santa Rosalillita, "they've abandoned all the Pacific coast in terms of trying to get these
rungs in."
To monitor Fonatur's plans, 22 environmental groups in the region have formed an alliance called Alcosta.
"We need more details," coordinator Sandra Guido said. "Nobody has the complete picture. . . . Whether or not the results are positive depends on how
it's implemented, on who takes responsibility for the environmental and social impacts."
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jerry
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so all this is really going to happen?? i know it will be in mexican time if it does has the road been started?? the marinas?? only thing i heard
about was la bay got a pemex and port of escondito has a pemex thats not operating have a good one jerry
jerry and judi
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Taco de Baja
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Registered: 4-14-2004
Location: Behind the Orange Curtain, CA
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Mood: Dreamin' of Baja
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Looks like Mexico has bought into the idea that if a project is failing, just change the name and try again. 
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