Mérida, Yucatán — Delays in the cleanup of railway yard at La Plancha is concerning to the Gran Parque La Plancha civil association.
Thousands of steel and wooden railway ties are still buried where trees should be planted, neighbors complain. They worry that the rainy season will instead bring weeds and mosquitos, and not an emerging “Central Park.”
Felix Rubio Villanueva, president of the Gran Parque La Plancha civic association, a neighborhood organization that has promoted the transformation of the property into an ecological park and green lung for the city, echoed that concern.
“We are worried because if they do not finish in the next 15 days, I see with horrible concern that we could finish by Sept. 15 or 30,” said Rubio Villanueva, referring to a deadline set by the governor. Members of the current administration would like to end their terms by handing off this ambitious project to their successors.
Rubio Villanueva attributed the delay to missing cranes, which would be needed to move the heavy-duty refuse to Poxilá, at a railway graveyard near the new industrial train station.
“It was not considered, because we did not think it would be so problematic to move the rails,” said Rubio Villanueva.
Some 562 trees and 1,500 shrubs are waiting to be planted. The rainy season has made June a good month for such a task.
The federal government granted 22 million pesos for planting trees and installing lighting and irrigation systems as the first stage of the project.
A few days ago, Gran Parque La Plancha AC signed an agreement with Mérida-based Plant for the Planet nonprofit association to collaborate on activities at the park.
Source: Diario de Yucatán
