Mexico’s Environment and Natural Resources Ministry (Semarnat) formally acknowledged to Congress that the construction of the Maya Train caused environmental damage.
Speaking at a congressional hearing on Monday, Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena told members of the Committee on Environment, Climate Change and Sustainability that the current administration is taking steps to “regularize” the Maya Train. Bárcena also admitted that her ministry is “very aware” that eight caverns and cenotes — natural sinkholes that are the primary source of water in the region — located along Section 5 of the railroad track have been impacted.
The 1,554-kilometer-long Maya Train was one of the flagship projects of the previous administration. Built at a cost of roughly 500 billion pesos (US $27 billion), the project faced constant criticism from environmentalists who decried the massive deforestation and the damage caused to the fragile ecosystem of the Yucatán Peninsula.
Section 5 was the subject of a number of lawsuits during the construction phase, but work often continued apace since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador issued a decree granting provisional authorization despite the absence of environmental impact studies.
Semarnat has made redress of Section 5 a priority, “working to ensure that the cleanup and concrete removal … is completed,” Bárcena said.
“When we took office on Oct. 1, 2024, the Maya Train was already there, so we can’t say we don’t want the train,” she said. “Instead, we are auditing every permit: those in hand and those applied for, so that the project can be regularized.”
Bárcena said Semarnat has established an inter-institutional working group in conjunction with the Federal Attorney’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa) and Maya Train administrators that meets weekly to monitor and evaluate the situation within each of the train’s seven sections.
The group is tasked with determining what permits are missing, what conditions have not been met and what actions should be taken, Bárcena explained. It is also examining the government’s reforestation and environmental restoration plan to determine how best to compensate for the damage caused by the project.
“We are working to standardize the project, especially in terms of environmental impact,” she said. “The group is working to propose, achieve and pressure for compliance with at least 95% of environmental impact regulations.”
During the hearing, Deputy Samuel Palma stated that of the nearly 11,000 hectares occupied for facilities, roads and auxiliary works, 61% lack the proper permit for change of forest land use.
In other testimony, Bárcena expressed concern about the water crises Mexico faces, particularly contamination. Among the seven goals of her ministry by 2030, Bárcena named purifying the Lerma, Santiago, Atoyac and Tula rivers, modernizing irrigation and reviewing the validity of the country’s private water concessions, eliminating 100% of plastics on beaches, reforesting 200,000 hectares and protecting 153 million additional hectares (30% of the territory).
With reports from La Jornada, Fortuna and El Economista
