It was in August 2018 when it was announced that the Mayan Train would have a cost of between 120 thousand and 150 billion pesos. How much was it?
The Mayan Train, which is being built in the southeast of Mexico and is close to starting operations of its first section on December 15 of this year, is one of the mega works promoted by the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
It was on August 13, 2018, still as president-elect, when López Obrador announced that the Mayan Train would have a cost of between 120 thousand and 150 billion pesos.
The Mayan Train will pass through the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo.
The construction of the work began in mid-December of that same year. However, “by those dates, only the agency (Fonatur) had requested 120 million pesos from the SHCP in order to carry out the analysis projects,” according to a document from the Senate of the Republic.
According to the Expenditure Budget of the Federation, for the fiscal years from 2019 to 2024, the amounts assigned to the work of the Mayan Train have been the following:
2019
120 million pesos for “Preinvestment Studies for the construction of the Mayan Train railway track.”
60 million pesos for “Pre-investment Studies for the construction of Development Poles along the Mayan Train Route.”
The above coincides with what was found by the Superior Audit of the Federation (ASF), which in 2019 reported that the implementation of the first stage of the Mayan Train Project had more than 180 million pesos.
2020
The PEF reports that 949 million 61 thousand 600 pesos were allocated for an “Acquisition and conditioning program for 392 kilometers of the railway right-of-way between Palenque and Campeche.”
However, the ASF found an exercised amount of 7 million 473 thousand 277.7 pesos for the “Maya Train Project”, which includes the audited amount of 624 thousand 368 pesos corresponding to two contracts.
2021
36 thousand 287 million 961 thousand 985 pesos were allocated
to the Mayan Train Project.
1 billion 41 million 252 thousand 631 pesos (total cost) for Pre-investment Studies for the construction of the Mayan Train railway track.
256 million 970 thousand 850 pesos (total cost) for Pre-investment Studies for the construction of Development Poles along the Mayan Train Route.
Therefore, the total sum amounts to 37 thousand 354 million 388 thousand 56 pesos.
2022
62 thousand 942 million 78 thousand 331 pesos (assigned) for the project consists of the provision of the railway transportation service that will interconnect the main cities and tourist areas of the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo through a line railway of approximately 1,440 km.
However, according to a document from the Chamber of Deputies, in the fourth quarter of the year the figure increased, so the modified budget amounted to 175 thousand 127.7 million pesos, of which, between January and December.
2023
143 thousand 73 million 333 thousand 362 pesos (assigned) for the project that consists of railway transportation that will interconnect the main cities and tourist areas of the states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo through a railway line of approximately one thousand 554 km.
2024
119 thousand 999 million 999 thousand 999 pesos (assigned) to the Mayan Train project.
Therefore, if only the budget allocated in these six years of government is considered, the amount allocated to the Mayan Train project amounts to 330 thousand 879 million 912 thousand 148 pesos.
So, the Mayan Train will end up costing more than double the original investment of 150 billion pesos when the project was presented.
However, the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) stated that if the Mayan Train budget for 2024 is approved, the amount accumulated in the six-year period would be 515,762 million pesos.
To reach this figure, the IMCO considered data from the Public Accounts from 2020 to 2022, quarterly reports from the Ministry of Finance, among others.
“This government’s priority infrastructure project will cost 3.3 times what was originally budgeted,” he said.
Source: Milenio
