They wouldn't respond to calls made by the San Pedro Sun or Channel 7, but this evening higher ups at the ministry of Natural Resources sure 'nuff did trot out a release responding to last night's story. And it says the story on the sale of the mar-de-tumbo road is misleading. Misleading not because the land wasn't agreed to be sold; it very much is in the process of that; but supposedly misleading because on march third, the minister, responding to pressure from San Pedro residents, agreed to halt the application, a fact that up until now that had been his and his advisors' little secret.
According to the Ministry's release, the story goes back to November of last year, when Seferino Paz Jr. proposed to buy a piece of land on the road to expand his resort, and in exchange he would leave the road at 10 feet across and upgrade it, leaving it accessible to the public. The Ministry release claims the UDP Mayor Elsa Paz and the UDP Area Representative Manuel Heredia Jr. supported it at first, but then withdrew that support. Still, the Minister of Natural Resources John Briceno decided to go ahead with the sale because it made provision for a public roadway and provided a development opportunity. Still, the application was in process and had not gone though.
Well now it has been stopped. The release says that Briceno got calls prompting him to "immediately halt the application process until the matter is resolved." The release says that the Minister will try to reach an amicable solution and gives the re-assurance that the road will remain accessible to the public.
