According to Rogelio Jiménez Pons, director of the National Fund for Tourism Development (Fonatur), the Maya Train will add three more stations to its original route, Cancún Centro and Chetumal in Quintana Roo, and El Triunfo, in Tabasco, for a total of 18.
Jiménez Pons attended the “Legislative-Academic Forum of the Southern Border: The Maya Train”, organized by the South Border Affairs Commission of the Chamber of Representatives.
After revealing that Fonatur also analyzes connecting the Maya Train with Guatemala, the federal official explained that the two new stations that correspond to Quintana Roo require an extension to the original route.
The Cancun Centro station will be added to the one in the Cancun International Airport to facilitate access to the local population. While the Chetumal station is added because it will be a “duty free” zone with certain tax benefits, and it is intended to be turned into a logistics center.
As for Balancán, Tabasco, where the El Triunfo train station will be located, the idea is to attract tourists to its archaeological sites and natural wonders.
The project was initially announced with 15 stations, but now 18 are contemplated.
In mid-June, the Federal Government modified the line by cutting the circuit in Quintana Roo. The new section is Valladolid-Cobá-Tulum, so it no longer will run between Valladolid and Cancun. However, there will be a branch to Cancun through the stations that were originally planned in the circuit: Tulum-Playa del Carmen-Puerto Morelos-Cancun.
On Wednesday August 21st, the president of the South Border Affairs Commission of the Chamber of Representatives, Raúl Eduardo Bonifaz Moedano, said that the average number of tourists visiting Southeast Mexico will be exceeded as soon as the Maya Train is launched.
“During the fifth academic-legislative forum on the Maya Train, to be held in Chetumal on Friday August 23, the Lower Chamber will review laws and regulations to increase the flow of tourists from South America, Europe, the United States and Canada; which will be fundamental for the economic development of the region, ” Bonifaz Moedano said.
“The local population will also be favored, as local labor will be hired for construction works, and it will be sought that the materials come from the region too, in addition to the fact that the contractors and executing companies will be local too”, he continued.
“Environmentalists, businessmen and business chambers look confidently at the project, because it representes a development opportunity, and different Mexican states will benefited”, declared the Mexican representative.
“The purpose of these meetings, feaaturing the participation of officials from the Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development Secretariat (SEDATU), the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and the National Water Commission (CONAGUA), among others, is “to listen to all the voices of the different sectors that will be impacted by this project, ” Bonifaz Moedano added.
The director of the National Fund for Tourism Promotion (FONATUR), Rogelio Jiménez Pons, and the federal representative Eduardo Bonifaz Moedano mentioned that on Wednesday September 11th, a general report of the Maya Train Project will be delivered to the Mexican Congress in Mexico City, that will include all proposals and concerns received during the Legislative-Academic Forum, as well as the proposals and positions of the interested parties.
The Yucatan Times Newsroom
