The fate of the proposed Gran Parque La Plancha is in constant flux. But the current plan should please the park’s proponents.
Yucatán Gov. Mauricio Vila Dosal and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador have agreed that 100% of La Plancha land will be used as a public park, La Jornada Maya reported.
Under previous administrations, the 50-acre rail graveyard, the largest barren piece of property in the Centro, was to be a naturalistic green space rather than a construction project that contributed to Mérida’s air pollution and over-abundance of concrete.
More recently, various ideas have been floated, including turning part of the lot into a Mayan Train station stop. With an underground tunnel, no less. A later compromise had demarcated 30% of the land for development to finance what’s left for a park.
Then the federal government decided the National Guard should be given the land, which covers several blocks north of the historic former train station on Calle 55 between 46 and 48.
Now local media report that at a meeting held at Military Air Base No. 8, the governor apparently persuaded the president to approve the park, and to allocate 1.4 billion pesos to its development. In exchange, the city will turn over an alternate piece of land for military housing. The location of that parcel was not disclosed.
Vila Dosal thanked López Obrador and the head of the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena), General Luis Crescencio Sandoval González, for their cooperation, as well as the Mérida Mayor Renán Barrera Concha, for the land donation.
Also during the visit, Vila Dosal and López Obrador reviewed construction at Section 3 of the Mayan Train, which goes from Calkiní to Izamal.
