The real story of the FONATUR Marina

[MMM]

So is the expiration of the 20 year concession a factor in this? And if it does, will there be a whole new ball game? Do you know when this concession expires?

Caleta was originally named "Brutus Cove" by Captain James P. Boylan of the Texas Navy when he and Commander Henry Livingston Thompson landed on Cozumel aboard the Texan Navy vessels Brutus and Invincible on July 13, 1837 and claimed the island for the new Republic of Texas. It was never used as a headquarters for pirates, as commonly reported in poorly-researched websites.

Caleta is now in the Federal Zone (Zona Federal Maritimo Terrestre, or ZOFEMAT), a strip of land that extends 67 feet inland from the high tide mark around the entire coast of Mexico. No one can own this land; it is federal property. However, the federal government can grant a concession to landowners who own land contiguous to the pertinent part of the federal zone. In the case of Caleta, as a part of the bargain struck regarding the strip of land that FONATUR needed to finish the marina, the federal government granted the operator of Hotel El Presidente a 20-year concession of Caleta. I'm sure the hotel operator wants the boats moored there to move to the new marina as soon as possible so they can take over operations of Caleta, renovate it, and turn it into a nice marina for visiting tourist boats, but until the FONATUR Marina is open, there is no place for the working boats to go.

I don't see the marina project as bad thing, just because of the errors made along the way. The funds for the project came mainly from investors who purchased parcels of land within this project (it is nearly sold out) and other FONATUR projects. When it is finished, we will have another hurricane hole for the island's boats and a new attraction for outside investment.

 

[El Graduado]

I don't really know the exact details of the length and renewal options of the concession that was granted to the operator of Hotel El Presidente. In 2011 they announced an agreement was made that included a 10 year concession with the right to renew it at the end of those ten years for an additional 7 year period. In 2013, it was reported that the agreement was for 20 years. I don't really now what the final deal was, but regardless, whenever the concession comes to an end, I'm sure their will be some sort of renegotiation.

 

[Brules]

I was curious if there was any updates to this ongoing mess? Will the new marina EVER open?

 

[MMM]

I was curious if there was any updates to this ongoing mess? Will the new marina EVER open?

I saw boats docked there recently. Not locals though.

 

[gopbroek]

This weekend I saw the entrance boom move out of the way but didn't notice any boats and it was back in place yesterday. I heard they were getting ready to dredge / deepen the entrance soon and the marina will open 'next month'. I think there is to much $$$$ involved to not get a work around or government variance to the environmental issues. If Paradise reef can be carved away for the original Puerta Maya pier and again for the expansion 'stinger', this is minor. Hopefully El Graduado will way back in as he seems to have the most accurate info around

 

[El Graduado]

Hopefully El Graduado will way back

On January 21, Juan Carlos González Hernández of FONATUR said they recently began dealing with CAPA (water works) and C.F.E. (electrical company) to consolidate the systems of potable water and electricity to get the marina “100% complete.” He said "the Cozumel Marina still needs close to 50 million pesos in addition to the budget which we manage annually" to be able to complete the work and that this 50 million pesos “could be” provided by the Federal Government in the first half of this year. On January 30, 2015, FONATUR issued another statement saying “It is hoped that within the next five months the marina will be 100% complete.” Nobody mentioned anything about any more dredging.


The work on the plaza is also falling behind. An event that was scheduled to be held there in May has been moved to another location because the Ayuntamiento said the plaza will not be finished by then.

 

[Sloeber]

I was curious if there was any updates to this ongoing mess? Will the new marina EVER open?

I can offer a small amount of help in this regard, but not much. I took the following 3 images on October 5, 2014.



These boxes are throughout the new marina and all were in the same state of being back on October 5. As of last week these boxes now have doors on them. I didn't try to open any doors to see what was inside, or if it was completed. You can also see the trench I discuss below.



Tough photo to view, sorry. You are looking straight down... What it shows is the chain link fence which runs the perimeter, and directly at the base of this fence is a trench. In some spots the trench was empty (as seen here), in other places it had electrical and water lines. All of this was uncovered and trenched with rubble pushed to the side. As of last week all of these trenches have been back-filled.



An unfinished sidewalk is shown here. As of last week these sidewalks are finished, both with additional concrete and green growing, manicured grass (not weeds) and in come cases, flowers or shrubs. Also shown are the "dead men" boat anchors, which are throughout the entire harbor. These were reported as missing in the original post on this thread.Most of them had a fair amount of barnacle growth so I do not think that is a new development.

Not shown in the photos are the electrical and water supply towers which are spaced every few slips. They are very nice. I do not know if they are operational, but they appear to me as being "tied down" meaning complete with water and electrical finished. On October 5 it was clear none of these were tied down, many of them were still trenched with no power or water lines running into them, and most of them were missing. I didn't spot a single one still trenched or missing as of last week. Also not shown are the street lamps to provide evening light. Most were missing and none were complete on October 5. They now appear to be complete and I did not see any missing. Granted I was there in daylight so I cannot comment if they are operational. Additionally there are fire extinguishers throughout the marina which were not present in any form on October 5.

In my few visits (maybe 3 or 4?) to the marina over the past 6 months I have never seen a person there working, however it is clear work is getting done - albeit very slowly. From the casual observers point of view, with no knowledge of the construction process at hand, it doesn't appear far off from being 100% complete if a concerted effort to finish it were to be made. I didn't spot a parking lot (not saying its not there, I just didn't see one) and the areas zoned for commercial or residential development are open fields of overgrown weeds, shrubs, and trees, plus small mountains of large boulders and rubble, presumably what was removed in the dredging process.

HTH

 

[Sloeber]

View attachment 197529
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The plan called for 4,523 lots, consisting of four hotels (the dark-rust areas), beach club (white area) commercial establishments (reddish areas, condos (brown areas), a “thematic park” (green area), single-family residences (yellow areas), and of course, the marina, including restaurants, gas station, yacht club and dry dock.

Are you able to tell me where the proposed parking area will be located?

 

[Brules]

Very cool, thanks for the updates!

 

[cvchief]

Are you able to tell me where the proposed parking area will be located?
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Darn it. They forgot parking!

It looked like the vinyl sign out front was new? Or maybe I didn't notice it before.