Transisthmic Corridor Gets Presidential Boost

President López Obrador concluded a tour in Mexico’s southeastern states that have lately received public investment through infrastructure projects. These projects are meant to kickstart socioeconomic development in regions that usually struggle with slower growth. This includes the president’s home state of Tabasco. The last stops in the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz are meant for the president to express his support for one of these flagship projects: the interoceanic Transisthmic Corridor, meant to connect the Gulf of Mexico port of Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz with the Pacific Ocean port of Salina Cruz in Oaxaca. 

One of these stops was in the town of Minatitlan in Veracruz. The strategic importance of this location comes from two factors. The first one is that it sits on the shores of the Coatzacoalcos river, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico a few miles down its current next to the port of the same name. The second one is that it houses the General Lazaro Cardenas refinery, currently presenting a 56 percent of advancement in its revamping according to Minister of Energy Rocío Nahle. The refinery will play a role in enhancing the capabilities of the Transisthmic Corridor by integrating the development of Mexico’s oil and gas industry and also the development of the port’s liquid cargo management capacities.

However, the more relevant stop came later in the Veracruz town of Sayula de Aleman. It is here that the president delivered a speech after participating in a symbolic flag-waving event in support of the Transisthmic Corridor next to the Medias Aguas train station, originally built in 1910 and now scheduled to be rehabilitated as part of this project. La Jornada reports that in his speech, the president announced that the project will receive a total investment of US$925.69 million, which will include the development of 10 industrial parks all along the corridor’s route which will operate under special fiscal conditions similar to those for similar projects near the US-Mexico border to maximize their job creation capabilities. These announcements coincided with what El Universal reported to be SEMARNAT’s full approval of the project’s environmental impact evaluation. However, that does not mean that these announcements were met with exclusively positive reactions. For example, El Imparcial de Oaxaca reported that none of the companies selected to be a part of this project were Oaxacan companies. In fact, they are not exclusively Mexican companies either.