Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced the extension of the Mayan Tourist Train, which will now run through Cancun, Palenque, Campeche and Yucatan, which will mean an investment of up to 150 billion pesos and will be completed in four years.
In a press conference, the president-elect explained that the original project included traveling from Cancún, Quintana Roo, to Palenque, Chiapas, with stopovers in Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Bacalar and Calakmul.
Now, stations will be included in Campeche, and Mérida and Valladolid, Yucatán.
The project will start with bids as of December 1 and will include public investment and private enterprise.
Of the public investment will be allocated 7 billion pesos a year, which will come from tourism tax funds.
In addition, a call will be launched to seek a partnership with private enterprise.
The technicians of López Obrador informed him that there is still the right of way of the train, and for that reason they decided to extend the work from 900 to 1,500 kilometers.
“It will no longer be Cancún-Palenque (located, respectively, in the states of Quintana Roo and Chiapas), but it will also include (the states of) Campeche and Yucatán,” he said.
Among other points, the train will pass through Calakmul, Tulum, Bacalar, Mérida and Valladolid, a route that will serve to reach the archaeological site of Chichén Itzá.
He assured that the call to start the bidding process will start on December 1 and that the works will be completed “no later than four years”.
“The fundamental thing is that we are going to develop one of the most important regions in the cultural aspect,” said López Obrador, who promised that the project, in addition to promoting tourism, will create jobs in the southeast of the country.
The Mayan Train is one of the major projects that are planned to take place during the Lopez Obrador Administration, which has promised to promote regional development especially in the less developed areas of Mexico.
Source: El Universal
