Reviving the abandoned Mexico City airport project is “legally possible,” according to a collective opposed to wasteful government spending.
The #NoMásDerroches (No More Waste) collective has already won four injunctions against the Santa Lucía airport including one granted this week that also instructs federal authorities not to make any changes to the site of the abandoned project in Texcoco, México state.
“We believe that it’s legally possible to raise Texcoco again,” said Gerardo Carrasco, a legal director at Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, one of the collective’s members.
Appearing on the television program La Nota Dura, Carrasco added, “honestly, if we didn’t have faith that it’s legally possible, I wouldn’t be here . . . talking about these injunctions and suspensions [that have been] granted.”
The most recent court order states that the partially-built Texcoco project must be left intact until a thorough legal review has examined the reasons why it was cancelled.
Plans to restore a drained lake at the site that would leave the foundations of the terminal building and part of a runway under water were announced earlier this week.
President López Obrador cancelled the US $13-billion project after a legally-questionable public consultation last October found almost 70% support to build the Santa Lucía airport and upgrade the existing Mexico City and Toluca airports instead.
During his campaign last year, López Obrador opposed the project on the grounds that it was corrupt, too expensive, not needed and being built on land that was sinking.
While the #NoMásDerroches collective is now optimistic that the previous government’s signature infrastructure project could be resurrected, Carrasco admitted that when the group first initiated legal action, a lot of people expressed doubt about its chances of success.
“When we formed this collective and then more civil organizations and law firms . . . started joining, a lot of people called us crazy, they thought that it wasn’t possible that the federal judicial power would grant suspensions in this respect,” he said.
The collective has filed 147 separate injunction requests that could hold up or threaten construction of the new airport, meaning that the stage is set for a lot more legal battles.
Rogelio Rodríguez, an attorney who specializes in aviation law, believes that the government could challenge the ruling that orders it to preserve the abandoned airport site and those suspending construction of the new project in the Supreme Court.
Source: El Financiero (sp)
