Cancun, Q.R. — The director of the Strategic Projects Agency of the State of Quintana Roo says a financial proposal has been prepared for the construction of a bridge over Cancun’s laguna Nichupté.
Eduardo Ortiz Jasso, head of la Agencia de Proyectos Estratégicos del Estado de Quintana Roo (Agepro), says a Mexican firm has prepared the proposal. The firm Controladora de Operaciones de Infraestructura have submitted their proposal to the Secretaría de Hacienda and Crédito Público (SHCP) for the construciton of a vehicular bridge over the Nichupté lagoon in the Cancun Hotel Zone.
The official said that they delivered the financial proposal noting they will seek to finance the project with the greatest possible contribution of public resources, but also maintain the public-private partnership scheme with which it was originally conceived.
It is, he explained, a work that is not only profitable for companies interested in building it, because users will be charged tolls, but also has high social profitability since in addition to providing a solution to vehicular traffic on Kukulcán Boulevard, it will favor public transport of the thousands of hotel workers in Cancun and will be a route for alternative transport such as bicycles.
The planned project consists of a bridge to cross the Nichupté lagoon with an extension of 8.7 kilometers. The project seeks to alleviate vehicular traffic issues between the hotel zone and the mainland. The construction of the bridge would see a 8.7 km roadway over the Nichupté Lagoon to link Colosio Boulevard with Kukulkán Boulevard.
Since the start of his administration, the governor of Quintana Roo Carlos Joaquín González, has considered the project a priority with significant efforts being made to create a scheme that allows the investor to recover his money by charging tolls.
“It will be used for public transport. It will have a cycle path and a pedestrian walkway in addition to the use of environmentally friendly technology. The project could be a candidate to receive financing up to 50 percent of the cost of the project,” explained Ortiz Jasso.
Arturo Herrera Gutiérrez, head of SHCP, made a visit to Cancun saying that 24 hours in the area was enough to determine the necessity of the new infrastructure.
“It is not the same thing to analyze from a desk as it is to come and see it and above all, suffer through it. When we finished seeing some private sector investment plans, we were practically in the Punta Cancun area which took an hour to get out of and get to the hotel where we are staying,” explained the official.
He said that they began talks with the state and municipal governments to devise some financing mechanism that involves the different levels of government “and probably the private sector.”
