Maya Train, Sedena cuts down more trees: 219 hectares of jungle in the Yucatan Peninsula
With the approval of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) and without an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) cut down 219.5 hectares of jungle to enable 4 mines or banks for the extraction of stone material for the construction of section 5 of the Maya Train, in the Yucatan Peninsula.
This is an area equivalent to 28% of the 767 hectares of forest land that were cleared to build that section of the railroad that goes from Cancun to Tulum, in the southeast of Mexico.
The works of the material extraction banks or mines, which involved an expense of 165 million pesos, were provisionally authorized in 2022 and 2023 by Semarnat, without the EIS existing.
With the work already advanced, Sedena has been presenting the respective MIAs since February 19, with the expectation that the extraction banks, 2 of them in the Municipality of Solidaridad and another 2 in Benito Juárez, will operate between one and two years, says Reforma.
Maya Train: Sedena cuts down trees in 219 hectares of jungle to extract material in the Yucatan Peninsula
The extracted stone materials, which can be gravel, clay, tezontle, and limestone, among others, are being used to build earthworks, roads, slopes, and the laying of the subgrade that supports the tracks of the Maya Train, whose construction is not yet finished and one day the government will fulfill the promise of traveling a 1,554 kilometer circuit through the states of Yucatan, Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, and Quintana Roo.
“This action (extraction) is significant due to the economic and social importance of these materials today. The availability of these resources not only facilitates the construction of housing and services but also contributes to the growth and development of local communities through job creation and the purchase and sale of materials,” says Sedena in the MIA.
95.5 hectares, section 5 North of the Mayan Train, in the process of public consultation
The most recent, presented on August 27 and still in the process of public consultation, is for an area of 95.5 hectares on one side of the right of way of Section 5 North of the Mayan Train, in the Yucatan Peninsula, and is part of a 1,677 hectare property near the Cancun International Airport and the Cancun Country Club.
The document also admits impacts on small and slow-moving fauna species.
