Tulum, Q.R. — The Environmental Impact Statement (MIA) for the upcoming Tulum International Airport has been submitted. The Ministry of National Defense (Sedena), who has been charged with the construction project, submitted the MIA earlier this month.
According to the document, the airport will consume a total area of 1,521.19 hectares of land which has been approved by the Chunyaxché Ejido. The Ejido involved in the sale of land to the federal government is in the municipality of Felipe Carrillo Puerto.
The public document released in the Semarnat Ecological Gazette states that the terminal and the complementary military base will be built on an area of 1,200 hectares along with an access road that will take up 321 hectares. “Of the total area of the project property, only 513 hectares of forest are requested for change of land use,” the MIA specified.
The initial passenger user forecast for the airport is around four million by the end of 2023, a figure that has been forecast to reach 12.1 million by the end of 2053. “The airport is based on a tourist type profile (origin-destination). The dimensions of the projected facilities are based on the forecast of passengers and operations,” the MIA reads.
The objective of the Tulum airport project is “to promote tourist demand for the south of the Riviera Maya with emphasis on the Playa del Carmen–Tulum–Chetumal corridor; opportunely to attend the surveillance functions of the air space on the southeast border; become a timely and strategic logistics node to provide support in the event of natural disasters in addition to speeding up transfers and reducing their costs between Tulum, Puerto Aventuras, Akumal, Xel-Ha, Cobá, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Bacalar, Mahahual and Chetumal,” the document detailed.
“At the end of this report, there is no information provided by Sedena regarding investments or their breakdown,” according to the Environmental Impact Statement (MIA).
However, on July 15, 2022, the Secretary of Tourism, Miguel Torruco Marqués, announced the cost of the Tulum Airport to be an investment of 3.2 billion peso. In January of this year, the airport was included in a 10 billion peso project announcement by President Andrés Manuel López.
According to the recently submitted MIA, construction is expected to begin “once the impact authorizations have been obtained.”