Mexico City (AP) – Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Sunday that the army will lead the Maya train project and several airports and use any profit to fund military pensions.
The military is already overseeing the construction of parts of the controversial project, while private companies are building the rest.
But López Obrador said on Sunday that “so there will be no temptation to privatize” the $ 6.8 billion project, the military will operate once it is built. Proceeds from this – and several airports, some of which the army is building – will be used to provide pensions to soldiers and sailors.
López Obrador has already given the army more tasks than any other recent Mexican president, with military personnel doing everything from building airports to transporting medicines and administering nurseries. López Obrador said that the army is one of the most reliable and honest institutions in the country.
In July, López Obrador inaugurated the start of construction of the train, his pet project, which will cover about 1,500 kilometers in a hard loop around the Yucatan.
The train is designed to connect Caribbean beach resorts to the interior of the peninsula, with mostly indigenous populations and ruined sites, in an attempt to stimulate economic development around its 15 stations.
The government says it will cost up to $ 6.8 billion, but others say it will cost much more.
Critics said the train would damage the environment and Mayan communities along its route and that adequate environmental impact and feasibility studies had not been conducted.