The Tulum international airport, one of the Mayan Train’s sister projects, was deemed “not viable” by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat).
Later, it was learned that the Federation’s 2023 Expenditure Budget provides no funding for the Tulum-Felipe Carrillo Puerto Airport.
The Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) — which was tasked with building the airport — withdrew its support for the project.
The news was a blow to the president’s star project, a rail network for the Yucatán Peninsula.
The project is still under evaluation since military leadership entered two environmental impact statements for the same project.
This 15.5-billion-peso project was, consequently, classified then by Sedena and by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) in the package of investment programs and projects “without allocation of resources in 2023.”
The administration, however, had classified the project a federal priority because “there is no airport infrastructure in the Riviera Maya capable of withstanding and assisting with security problems and serious hydrological events.”
The construction of the Tulum Airport requires the loss of at least 1.3 million trees of more than 60 different species in the central area of Quintana Roo. According to the project’s environmental impact statement, the species to be axed are classified as useful timber.
The president of the Tulum College of Architects and Engineers said the situation shows a lack of planning. Guadalupe Portillo Mánicak, in Reportur.mx, compared this setback with the time Section 5 of the Mayan Train, near Playa del Carmen, had to be rerouted even after construction had begun.
The Tulum airport is designed to serve both the armed forces as well as tourists traveling the Riviera Maya.
