A ribbon-cutting ceremony in Copala, Guerrero, yesterday heralded the opening of the first stretch of a new coastal highway connecting Playa Azul to Playa Ventura in Guerrero’s Costa Chica region.

Upon completion of the first two of 19 kilometers, the municipality’s mayor said he anticipated that the new highway would be a deciding factor in attracting national and international tourism to the region.

“We are going to finish this highway to attract tourism to Copala and so that lots of people visit the beaches.”

Guerrero infrastructure chief Javier Taja Ramírez explained that the state government had invested 165 million pesos (US $8.5 million) in the project in order to propel sustainable economic growth in Copala and a successful tourism-based economy in the region.

He said the investment will go towards all the necessary infrastructure projects related to the construction of the highway, as well as towards the completion of the remaining 17 kilometers needed to connect the two beach communities.

State Governor Héctor Astudillo Flores also authorized 50 million pesos for the construction of a bridge along the same route.

Another local official present at the ceremony, Fernando Soriano, expressed his admiration and gratitude for the governor’s initiative.

“You are achieving the unthinkable: you are making possible the transformation of these beaches.”

Guerrero’s Costa Chica region is one of the poorest in Mexico, with an economy mostly based on fishing and subsistence agriculture. The region has also seen high rates of crime and violence in the last decade, due to drug trafficking.

Source: El Universal (sp)