Development Projects in Cancun Stand at 50% Completion: SICT

The Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT) reported that the Comprehensive Program for the Development of Projects in Cancun, Quintana Roo, which oversees the Cancun Airport to the Maya Train station, presents a 50% advance for environmental mitigation. 

Jorge Nuño Lara, Minister of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport, announced that the selection of the rolling materials is underway and that the Luis Donaldo Colosio Boulevard and Airport Distributor will be completed ahead of schedule in August 2023.

SICT highlighted that care for the environment was one of the main focuses of the projects and that all involve environmental mitigation. The ministry explained that for every 20 hectares of environmental impact, the regional system will be compensated with 353 through the integral management of vegetation, fauna and waste, and the installation of greenhouses. 

“For every 20 hectares with environmental impact, these are compensated with 353 hectares. The mitigation measures are aimed at improving the quality of the lagoon system's wetlands," says Nuño Lara via a SICT press release. 

The four projects in the region will be free of tolls and benefit about 1.3 million inhabitants of the municipalities of Benito Juarez, Solidaridad, Puerto Morelos and Isla Mujeres. They will also benefit over 20 million tourists, workers and travelers. The route will connect the metropolitan area and the hotel zone with the airport, explained SICT. 

The Nichupte Vehicular Bridge, which involved an investment of MX$7 billion (US$397 million) over 8.8km, is 16% finished. The ministry explained that the bridge will connect with the Colosio access and is forecasted for completion in March 2024. 

SICT poured a MX$1.1 billion (US$64 million) investment in the Luis Donaldo Colosio Boulevard, which is being rehabilitated with hydraulic concrete on its 13.3km length. The ministry explained that the last part of the works for the boulevard will be completed in August 2023 and will connect the Colosio junction to the Glorieta del Ceviche, which stands at 58% completion. 

However, Quintana Roo’s Urbanists College have criticized the works, arguing that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Quintana Roo's authorities are deploying counterproductive actions that promote the use of cars and that the projects lack sustainable mobility alternatives. “The most recent mobility policies propose the promotion and upgrading of public transportation or alternative means… it is a nationwide policy derived from the Comprehensive Law for Mobility and Road Safety. I think that this [Nichupte] bridge is contrary to the policy since [the government] is still developing car infrastructure,” says Adriana Martínez, Vice President, Quintana Roo’s Urbanists College, as reported by MBN.