NAUTICAL STAIR PROJECT "SINKS"

                                                       operating in 2003

          Scales                                  operating in 2005

     tourist regions and five

     localities

<<<Gary Ritzman>>> M/V Dharma Albin 40 Mercer Island WA NAUTICAL STAIR PROJECT "SINKS" The plan was to construct centers to supply ships coming from the U.S. and it failed .And they project at the long term Even when they have not finished one marine or any nautical scale, Fonatur has projected going for more.. The great tourist project of every administration, known as the Nautical Stair by which it was intended to establish supply centers for boats coming from the United States that would arrive at the Mexican northeast, failed. Not even the change of name to Mar de Cortes brought luck to the Federal Government, which -contrary to what businessmen expected- could now wrest market from private marinas through the National Fund for Promoting Tourism (Fonatur for its initials in Spanish). In 2001, the Fox administration retook the project from ex-president Zedillo consisting in the construction of 29 marinas along the Sea of Cortes that would supply fuel and foodstuffs to traveling ships. It was planned at the beginning that five of the 29 marinas would start operating during the second quarter of 2003, but that did not happen. In 2004, the project was reduced to 12 programmed scales so that the first six could function as of May 2005, and the remaining ones in 2006, Fonatur details in its Web site. By this the small and medium ships from California and Arizona could navigate through the Sea of Cortes getting fuel in any of these stops, so recalls Marma Teresa Celis de Grossman. The medium ships (of 26 to 50 feet in length have an average fuel autonomy of 300 nautical miles, so indicated the President of the Tourist Marine Association. Between San Diego and Cabo San Lucas, there are 1,000 nautical miles, which is why they need to have a place to get some fuel." But at the end of President Vicente Fox's administration, not one sole marina has been constructed. "We estimate that Fonatur has spent on the Nautical Stair project over P$500mn. It has not built one sole nautical stop and it does not have one sole marina in operation," complained Celia. But Daniel Shroyet, owner of the La Paz Marina, Baja California Sur, reported that, in contrast, Fonatur had been dedicated to building new installations in places that have no port infrastructure and marinas in utter competition with those already existing. This means that Mexico will continue to receive the same 8,000 ships annually in nautical tourism that it has had in the last ten years, but now there will be more people competing for them, so indicated Celia de Grossman. These ships can arrive because they are bigger, she said. Nevertheless, Eduardo Lemmen Meyer Gonzalez, President of the Sonora Hotel Association, considered that there is still hope for more ships to arrive to the region by land. "There is a development that is almost completed where there is going to be a highway in the narrowest part of Baja California Sur, so that from the Pacific the ship can be transferred to the Sea of Cortes. Despite the commitments that have not been kept, the Fonatur web still assumes a pending plan. "The project will be extended from 2007 to 2012 and has as its objective to expand and conclude the network through: 1) the complement of nautical installations in Puerto San Carlos; 2) the construction of six new scales in Molege, Bahma Kino, Huatabampito Altata, Tearapan and Jaltemba; and 3) the installation of four mobile scales to reach the total of 27 scales operating in the network the functioning of five nautical-tourism corridors." Fonatur did not respond to the request of an interview with REFORMA. Graph Fox's decimated tourist wish With time, the Nautical Stair project has been getting smaller. It went from one proposed marine installation to the fruitless intent of building only supply centers called nautical scales. YEAR NON-COMPLIED PLANS FIRST GOAL RESULT 2001 Build 20 marinas Five marinas start Non-complied operating in 2003 2004 Building of 12 nautical Six would start Non-complied Scales operating in 2005 2005 Installment of five new In progress tourist regions and five localities

That is why Mexico is called "The Land of Rusty Rebar." A lot of starts but no completions. Ralph Salerno M/V ANCORA San Diego