The Maya Train project will be financed through a mixed investment scheme, that is, 10 percent Government resources and the rest will be left to private companies, according to the National Fund for Tourism Promotion (Fonatur).
According to Mexico City’s based newspaper El Financiero, the railway project, one of the most important for the administration of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, foresees a cost of between 120 and 150 billion pesos, and the Mexican government, contributing with only 10%, will participation with approximately 15 billion pesos.
In a statement, Fonatur indicated that the winning companies in the bidding contests will be responsible for the detailed engineering and construction of railways, design and manufacture of the trains.
Also, the companies will be concessionaires of the train during a term of 30 years, in which they will be in charge of the maintenance of the station, facilities and box cars of the Maya Train.
On February 11, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador met with the team in charge of the project, led by the organization’s general director, Rogelio Jiménez Pons, to determine the financing scheme.
He also explained that the bidding rules will be open, in order to encourage the greatest number of participants.
Fonatur stressed that there will be interconnectivity with the rest of the country from the coordination between the Maya Train and the Transisthmic Corridor.
In this regard, the institution explained that adherence to the law will be a guiding principle of this project, both in terms of the environmental and social issues, regarding the communities in the area of influence of the Maya Train.
The project obviously includes the elaboration of the Environmental Impact Manifestations (MIA), and once the results of the studies are obtained, the corresponding containment and mitigation measures will be applied.
According to Notimex, consultations will be held with indigenous peoples in accordance with the law and in full compliance with Convention Number 169 of the International Labor Organization on indigenous peoples, during the construction works of the Maya Train Project.
SMT Newsroom with information from SIPSE
