"The Mayan Train is set to change the anatomy of Mexico’s southeast" 24 June 2022

Escárcega, a city of almost 60,000 inhabitants in the southeastern Mexican state of Campeche, lies on the route of the Mayan Train, an ambitious mega-project promoted by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, widely known as AMLO. [...]

But a possible paradox lies in the Mayan Train’s aim of boosting a sustainable tourism industry. In other parts of the region, the project itself threatens unique attractions such as the cenotes (underground lakes), caves and the surrounding biome’s flora and fauna, all of which draw many thousands of visitors. [...]

It is also home to important and fragile ecosystems, which opponents of the Mayan Train fear will suffer from the construction of a line that will also transport soybeans, palm oil and pork, the region’s main agricultural products. [...]

In 2020, FONATUR assigned the construction of the first section of the Mayan Train to a consortium made up of Portugal’s Mota-Engil, the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC, which owns a 30% stake in the Portuguese infrastructure firm) and Mexican companies Grupo Cosh, Eyasa and Gavil Ingeniería. [...]

A 2021 study on wildlife in protected areas by researchers from ECOSUR concluded that the Mayan Train will exacerbate the fragmentation and deterioration of habitat quality in a period of only 10 years. [...]

The Mexican government claims that the project does not harm the environment and, on the contrary, works on its improvement. FONATUR argues that it can complement Sembrando Vida – the rural development programme that pays beneficiaries some US$250 per month for planting fruit and timber trees, and covers 142,852 hectares along the Mayan Train route. [...]