Cancún’s ongoing post-Wilma recovery efforts will shift into high gear on January 16th with the start of efforts aimed at restoring over 12km of powder-white sands eroded by the October hurricane.
Funded by an initial investment of around US$20 million, Belgian maritime engineering and construction firm Jan De Nul beat off four other contenders to win the rebuilding contract, and will be also be charged with maintaining the sand after it has been replaced.
Between two and 2.8 million cubic meters of sand will be dredged from ‘La Ollita’ and ‘Megarizaduras’, two sandbanks lying in the deeper waters of the Bahia de Mujeres, and deposited on the Hotel Zone beaches.
The work is scheduled to be…
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In brief…
Wilma-damaged Cancun still under construction - many visitors are heading instead to the Riviera Maya…that suffered less damage.
CNN.comThe water is still those glorious shades of blue, but much of the beach is gone. The hotel zone is a mess. The nightclubs are silent. Cancún is recovering, but
it will be months before Cancún is Cancún again.
Chicago Tribune
In brief…
Washington Post Staffer Cindy Loose spent four days early in December touring Cancún and the Riviera Maya.
After Wilma, Is Mexico Ready For Some Fun? Yes, she says… "with a few caveats" [mainly sections of Cancún]. A balanced snapshot of how far the region has recovered since Wilma –
December 11th
In brief…
James McKinley
reports for
The New York Times (republished in
El Universal) about how fishermen, hoteliers, restaurant owners, divers, nightclub impresarios and the thousands who work for them are still picking up the pieces after Hurricane Wilma.
Hurricane [Wilma] swept about eight miles of pristine white beach out to sea along the barrier island where many of the lavish, five-star resorts are built. "No hotel in Cancún has a beach," said Jorge Hernández, the operations manager at the Gran Real Caribe. "We have nothing. No beach at all."
The federal government has devoted $20 million to a project that will pump the sand from its current location offshore near Isla Mujeres back to the stripped strand of rocks where the fancy hotels are. But the work has yet to begin, officials said.
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