The Lake Texcoco Ecological Park (PELT) — located on and around the site of the canceled Mexico City airport project — will open next month, according to the park’s director.
Iñaki Echeverría told reporters that the park — a federal government project — is 95% complete and will be inaugurated by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the middle of August.
It is more than twice the size of Manhattan and 17 times bigger than the Chapultepec Forest, the park in central Mexico City that is home to various tourist attractions including the Chapultepec Castle, the Chapultepec Zoo and the National Museum of Anthropology.
Echeverría, an urbanist and architect who designed the PELT, noted that the development of the México state site as an ecological park was first proposed during the 2006-12 presidency of Felipe Calderón.
However, the project wasn’t carried out, and the plan was scrapped when the 2012-18 government of former president Enrique Peña Nieto decided to build what was to be called the New Mexico City International Airport (NAICM) on the site.
López Obrador’s cancellation of the NAICM project after a legally-questionable vote held in late 2018 paved the way for the plan to be taken up once again.
At the heart of the project, Echeverría said, is the recovery of wetlands on the site of the ancient lakebed.
“It’s a project of environmental regeneration,” he said. “… It’s about recovering … all the bodies of water and habitat that we can.”
The 14,030-hectare PELT is located in the municipality of Texcoco around 25 kilometers northeast of the historic center of Mexico City. The park — declared a natural protected area in 2022 — is being developed with an investment of 5.5 billion pesos (US $302.8 million).
It aims to improve air quality in the eastern section of greater Mexico City and the quality of life of local residents by giving them easy access to a vast recreational space. In addition, Echeverría said the park will help regulate temperatures as it is located within the area of the Valley of Mexico’s worst urban heat island.
3 bodies of water have been restored
During a tour of the PELT with reporters late last week, Echeverría said that the San Juan Marsh and the Xalapango and Texcoco Norte lagoons have been restored. He also said that the park will enable public access for the first time ever to the artificial Lake Nabor Carillo, which was built in the 1980s.
A lookout has been built, providing an excellent vantage point to observe the lake and its birdlife.
“The idea … with this lookout is to open up to the public … a magical place that is very close to the most populated area of the Valley of Mexico. Few people have seen the lake up close and the number of birds, the sounds — it’s an experience that can be transformative,” Echeverría said.
Gabriela González Márquez, the park’s head of natural resources protection, said that 250 bird species and 350 other species of fauna can be found in the PELT. Some of those birds migrate to Mexico from as far away as Alaska and South America.
The PELT at a glance
Among the additional park amenities are:
- A 270-hectare sports area that includes soccer fields, basketball courts, baseball fields and “adventure games”
- A site museum
- Children’s parks
- A restaurant
- Cycleways
- A running track
- Skateparks
- A nursery
Echeverría said that “practically everything” is ready.
“In overall progress, we’re at 95%. There are things that are already 100% [complete] and others that are being finished,” he said.
Some 8 million people are expected to visit the park annually.
Getting to the park
Once the park is open, public buses will run to it from the Terminal Aérea metro station at the Mexico City International Airport, and from points in the México state municipalities of Nezahualcóyotl, Chimalhuacán, Ecatepec and Chiconcuac.
Buses will also operate on three different routes within the PELT, Echeverría said.
