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Accusation agains urbanization companies in Apoyo

ViaNica.com | Jun 29, 2007

The non governmental organization AMICTLAN and the Club of Young Environmentalists had a press conference this morning in which they released a complaint against urbanization companies which are committing crimes against nature with their projects in the Nature Reserve Laguna de Apoyo.



The complaint means to get attention from the national authorities and the population and is made due to these urbanization companies which already started to build and sell lots on the Internet without any permits of the local authorities nor the Ministry for Environment and Nature Resources MARENA, and for not having adequate plans for soil and water for their projects, which are developed in a nature reserve.



During the conference there were present the mayors of Catarina, Masaya, Diriomo and the legal advisor of the Club of Young Environmentalists. AMICTLAN is an organization which includes a professional technical team and six government authorities and its purpose is the conservation of environment and betterment of life quality of the population of the lagoon. The Club of Young Environmentalists is an organism who wants to involucrate young Nicaraguan people in the nature conservation.



Erwin Sánchez, mayor of Catarina and president of AMICTLAN, expressed that the intention is not to be against private investments inside of the nature reserve, but to make sure that the investor respects the strict laws for the ecological conservation. The speakers indicated that some of these companies are not respecting the local and other authorities and environment normative by continuing their projects.



To show the attitude of these companies, there were given a few examples: The project Rancho Monterrey, after getting a negative answer from the authority of Catarina for constructions without plans for soil and water and not respecting environmental laws, received shelter from judicial authorities pretending to continue their project violating environmental laws. Los Congos, a project by Laguna S.A., started constructions in the reserve and initiated sales through their Internet page, and they sold already some lots without having the official permit to develop the project.



The directors of Los Congos, according to Tania Guillen, environmental technician of AMICTLAN, did not allow the technical team to enter the area of the Project to evaluate the project and the soil. Guillén said that Apoyo is a risk due to its seismic activity, which provoked a big trimmer in the year 2000. “Without investigations there are risks of landslides and floods which can affect residents and their investment.”



The conferences organizers expect that the national authorities care about this issue and take the necessary steps to conserve Apoyo and that the investors respect the environmental laws for the conservation of this nature reserve.



Apoyo was declared nature reserve in 1991 and is protected by special laws, even though they are not respected. Indiana Fuentes, assessor of the Club of Young Environmentalists said that the problem is the missing control of MARENA, which never applied the laws and which gave permits by the personal attention of the former deputy of this organization in the district of Granada.



Fuentes confirmed that soon there will be an official complaint in front of the Procuraduría del Ambiente and the Fiscalía del Ambiente, with the aim to involucrate big authorities in the case of Apoyo.



For further information on Apoyo see our Especial Laguna de Apoyo.



The web pages of the companies selling lots without any official permits are the following:

www.nicaraguaproperty.com/rancho_monterrey.html

www.loscongos.com



For further information on the case, contact AMICTLAN: info@amictlan.com. The web page of this organization is www.amictlan.com.