Ministry permits hotel project on Muğla's burned forest areas

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The Ministry of Environment and Urbanization has permitted seven projects of marble quarries, hotels and wind farms in several districts of the southwestern Muğla province, daily BirGün reported.

Some of the permitted projects were in forested areas that were burned during the massive wildfires in late July and early August, local NGOs said.

Muğla, a popular tourist spot, was among the hardest-hit regions from the wildfires that continued for two weeks.

CLICK - 83,000 hectares of forests burned in Turkey's south and southwest in two weeks 

On August 13, the ministry announced that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report was not necessary for a hotel and time-shared property project in Marmaris' İçmeler neighborhood.

A 205-room hotel and 1,407 timeshare flats are planned to be built on an area of 163,968 square meters.

The Marmaris City Council has filed a lawsuit demanding the cancellation of the project. The project area is within the Marmaris National Park and coincides with the burned forest areas, the council said.

Burned forest areas in the Constitution

According to Article 169 of the Constitution, burned forest areas cannot be zoned for development and should be reafforested. However, the 21 amendments made to the Forest Law no. 6831 in 17 years have facilitated opening forest areas for development for various reasons. Under Law no. 6292, some 473,000 hectares of lands have been handed over to the Treasury because of "losing forest character."

In Güvercinlik neighborhood of Bodrum district, the ministry on August 31 issued a positive EIA report for a wind farm project with eight wind turbines. The project area is 900 meters away from the nearest "first degree protected area" and 500 meters away from the nearest "natural protected area."

In the districts of Seydikemer, Menteşe and Kavaklıdere, the ministry decided an EIA report was not necessary for five separate marble quarry projects. (TP/VK)