Chetumal, Q. R. — The Environmental Impact Statement for section 7 of the Maya Train was presented in a public meeting Thursday. In a statement, the National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism reported on the open pubic meeting regarding the section of train that will run from the state’s capital city of Chetumal to Escárcega in the neighboring state of Campeche.
The public information meeting that was held at the Escárcega Poliforum included a Q&A session to address concerns about section 7, which will pass through the urban areas of Nicolás Bravo and Xpujil. Fonatur representatives at the meeting detailed that the route will include 52 pedestrian crossings, 207 drainage projects and 126 wildlife crossings.
They also explained that the segment of the Maya Train that will run from Chetumal, Quintana Roo, to Escárcega, Campeche, is environmentally viable. Its construction will help to organize the territory with alternatives for the socioeconomic development of the southeast and mobility in the region as indicated by the Environmental Impact Statement Regional Modality presented by Fonatur.
The meeting was held by the Institute of Ecology (Inecol) and representatives from the National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism (Fonatur) who detailed that section 7 of the Maya Train will pass through the urban areas of Nicolás Bravo in Quintana Roo as well as Xpujil, Centenario and Escárcega, in Campeche.
It will consist of 255.36 kilometers along which it will house stations in Nicolás Bravo, Xpujil, Conhuas and Centenario from where they will offer tourism, passenger and cargo services.
Fonatur says the Inecol document was based on a Regional Environmental System (SAR) of 11,393.67 kilometers of surface and determines that the Maya Train project section 7 is viable from the environmental point of view, adding that the possible impacts will be limited and mostly temporary.
The MIA for section 7 provides, among others, reforestation programs as well as rescue and relocation of flora and fauna, considering species at risk of extinction, endemic species and species with reduced populations.
The study cites, among the objectives of the project, to diversify and strengthen the tourism industry, promote the socioeconomic development of the region, as well as of the native peoples and communities, encourage social inclusion and job creation and promote and protect the indigenous cultures of the southeast in addition to the territorial reorganization in Quintana Roo and Campeche.
On Thursday, Diego Prieto Hernández, the director of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Historia (INAH), reported on the discovery of an area of more than 300 buildings several kilometers south of Playa del Carmen which they have named Paamul 2.
