Environmentalists may recoil in horror but Governor Emilio Gonzalez envisions a new Cancun rising south of Puerto Vallarta.

Gonzalez announced Tuesday plans for a new hotel zone on 1,200 hectares of land in a pristine and undeveloped area known as the Estero (Estuary) de Chalacapetec, some 30 miles south of Tomatitlan.

The project is already well advanced and will be funded by the Instituto de Pensiones del Estado and the private developers Rasaland (RLD).

This is first time that the pension fund for state workers has dabbled in anything other than financial instruments.

The land – former communal ejido property – has already been purchased for 156 million dollars.

According to Gonzalez, the total investment will be 1.3 billion dollars, and the project is expected to create 2,100 direct jobs and 6,100 indirect ones.