Residential development would transform Tepakán, a tiny village in rural Yucatán
A significant residential development project is under consideration for the small municipality of Tepakán, Yucatan, according to state authorities.
The company plans to create 389 housing lots covering 124,828.58 square meters and two commercial lots totaling 1,800 square meters. The entire development would spread across approximately 23.39 hectares—a space roughly 2.3 times larger than Mérida’s El Centenario Zoological Park.
This massive development would dramatically reshape Tepakán, a municipality with just 2,133 inhabitants and 935 homes, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). The municipal capital itself is even smaller, with only 1,942 residents living in 54 houses, of which merely 47 are currently occupied.
The Secretariat of Sustainable Development (SDS) of Yucatan has initiated a five-day public consultation period regarding the proposed “Residential Terrakán” project. Tepakán is approximately 61.8 kilometers east of Mérida’s Peripheral Ring via the federal road to Motul.
The introduction of 389 new housing lots would increase the housing capacity of Tepakán’s municipal capital by sevenfold, fundamentally altering the character and scale of this small Yucatecan town. Such rapid expansion would likely transform the rural community into a suburban development practically overnight.
The planned infrastructure includes a perimeter fence that would enclose the large development, along with new streets, administration areas, and green spaces. The company also plans to build amenity areas, though the SDS has not disclosed specific details about these features or the total amount being invested in the project.
Limited window for public input
Despite the transformative nature of this development for the small town, the SDS has announced that citizens have only five working days from March 21 to review the Environmental Impact Statement (MIA) for the project. This brief consultation period provides the only official opportunity for local residents and other concerned parties to propose measures to mitigate environmental impacts or submit observations about the development.
Those interested in reviewing the document face an additional hurdle, as they must physically visit the SDS office located at Calle 64, 437 between 47-A and 53 in downtown Mérida—a significant distance from Tepakán—and request the MIA for file number 217/2024 in person.
An agricultural past
The land slated for development has a history tied to traditional Yucatecan agriculture. According to the Public Property Registry of Yucatán, the property is located outside Tepakán’s urban area to the east and borders the Kantirix estate to the south.
In 2007, Aída Rosa Morales Cáceres de Palma, a 57-year-old homemaker, divided the plot into six sections. The land, which then measured 415,400 square meters, was used for henequén and cereal cultivation—crops that have historically been important to the region’s agricultural economy.
Pandemic-era land acquisition
On March 18, 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to affect Yucatán, Morales sold the 363,250.26-square-meter property to Multiservicios Eléctricos Peninsulares for 1 million pesos. The payment included an initial check for 600,000 pesos, with the remaining balance to be paid in monthly installments of 100,000 pesos from April through July 2020.
The timing of this transaction—during the early uncertainty of the pandemic—raises questions about how the economic pressures of that period might have influenced land sales in the region.
With reporting from Diario de Yucatán
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