ORAC
29th Oct 2018, 14:30
WSJ: Mexicans Vote to Cancel $13.3 Billion Mexico City Airport ProjectMEXICO CITY—Mexicans who participated in a public consultation on the future of the Mexico City airport voted to cancel the $13.3 billion project, which was already under construction, vote organizers said Sunday. President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said he would abide by the results of the vote (https://www.wsj.com/articles/airport-referendum-is-early-test-for-mexicos-new-government-1540498123?mod=article_inline), which isn’t legally binding, and his spokesman, Jesús Ramírez, said the president-elect on Monday would explain what steps will be taken.
More than a million Mexicans voted in the controversial consultation, launched by Mr. López Obrador, on whether to continue the construction of a new airport at Texcoco, a lake bed northeast of Mexico City, or cancel it in favor of keeping the existing airport and adding a terminal and two runways to a military base at Santa Lucía, north of the capital. Enrique Calderón Alzati, president of the Arturo Rosenblueth Foundation, which was responsible for counting the votes, said that 747,000 votes were for the Santa Lucía option, and 310,463 to continue with the Texcoco project. The votes were from 98% of polling places.
The consultation, which ran from Thursday through Sunday, was controversial on a number of fronts, including giving voters the decision on a matter as technical as the airport infrastructure for one of the world’s largest cities.
Cancellation of the current project, which is about one-third complete, involves the loss of more than $5 billion already spent, and could lead holders of $6 billion in bonds issued to finance the work to demand immediate payment.
Mr. López Obrador, who won the July 1 presidential election by a landslide, called the project designed by U.K. architect Norman Foster a waste of money for a country with Mexico’s social needs. He campaigned in favor of the alternative, which he said would be cheaper.
Mr. López Obrador said last week that his government would guarantee the contracts of principal companies working on the new airport. They include a construction firm owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, Spanish conglomerate Acciona (http://quotes.wsj.com/ES/XMAD/ANA) SA as well as other leading Mexican builders such as Grupo ICA “The same work they have assigned at Texcoco they’ll still do, only at Santa Lucía, if that’s what the people decide,” Mr. López Obrador said.......
More than a million Mexicans voted in the controversial consultation, launched by Mr. López Obrador, on whether to continue the construction of a new airport at Texcoco, a lake bed northeast of Mexico City, or cancel it in favor of keeping the existing airport and adding a terminal and two runways to a military base at Santa Lucía, north of the capital. Enrique Calderón Alzati, president of the Arturo Rosenblueth Foundation, which was responsible for counting the votes, said that 747,000 votes were for the Santa Lucía option, and 310,463 to continue with the Texcoco project. The votes were from 98% of polling places.
The consultation, which ran from Thursday through Sunday, was controversial on a number of fronts, including giving voters the decision on a matter as technical as the airport infrastructure for one of the world’s largest cities.
Cancellation of the current project, which is about one-third complete, involves the loss of more than $5 billion already spent, and could lead holders of $6 billion in bonds issued to finance the work to demand immediate payment.
Mr. López Obrador, who won the July 1 presidential election by a landslide, called the project designed by U.K. architect Norman Foster a waste of money for a country with Mexico’s social needs. He campaigned in favor of the alternative, which he said would be cheaper.
Mr. López Obrador said last week that his government would guarantee the contracts of principal companies working on the new airport. They include a construction firm owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, Spanish conglomerate Acciona (http://quotes.wsj.com/ES/XMAD/ANA) SA as well as other leading Mexican builders such as Grupo ICA “The same work they have assigned at Texcoco they’ll still do, only at Santa Lucía, if that’s what the people decide,” Mr. López Obrador said.......