Stop Order Given to Cayo Rosario Development

Less than a week after News Five aired concerns from San Pedro residents about the Cayo Rosario development, the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing (M.I.D.H.) has issued a stop order to halt construction. On Friday, M.I.D.H. informed Daniel Kalenov, a director with the Cayo Rosario Development Group, about the stop order after a site visit on April ninth revealed that several buildings, including an entrance pier, were built without the necessary permits. In a letter to Kalenov, Derick Calles, Director of Building Control at the Central Building Authority, stated that the order will remain in effect until all required permits are obtained from the Central Building Authority and other relevant authorities for all structures and construction activities on the site. On April eighth, a public meeting in San Pedro saw dozens of residents, business owners, and environmental organizations voicing their opposition to the controversial development, which plans to build up to forty over-water structures in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Residents are particularly concerned about the piles driven into the sea to support a pier and an over-the-water concrete structure. The model currently in place represents what the other thirty-nine structures would entail. Citizens argue that interfering with the seabed to drive so many piles will permanently drive away the numerous types of fish that feed in the immediate area. Cayo Rosario is a six-acre island located about six miles west of San Pedro Town.