SAMANA. - The mayor, a deputy and the parish priest of the community Sanchez said if a foreign company is allowed to extract construction aggregates to be shipped abroad, it would be “fatal” for tourism and the environment.

Mayor Johnny Carrasco and deputy Demetrio Vicente said that company’s executives visited them seeking to obtain a no-objection letter to obtain the operating permit. Carrasco said he refused to issue it operations because it would be fatal for the province, and especially for Sanchez’s inhabitants.

The mayor said the Environment Ministry must determine the implications to the zone’s environment and natural resources, before authorizing the works to extract limestone. "That company has visited me in two occasions to ask for a letter of no-objection, which I denied because it would affect the entrance to the town, since a large important strip for the promotion of tourism would be removed, which I understand would be fatal for the town of Samaná."

The municipal said no one from the Environment Ministry has spoken with him on the project, although one from the Mining Directorate did. "Given the magnitude and what the project implies, we have been careful on that, although I could have granted the authorization without the need of approval by the City Council."

Vicente said the operations to extract construction aggregates in the Sanchez and Samaná area would greatly affect the zone’s ecotourism.