Last night, the Presidency of the Republic decreed as of public interest and national security the realization of priority projects and works headed by the current administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. With this action, the federal Executive will be able to shield the information related to its development, in addition to allowing the issuance of provisional permits or licenses, in less than five days, to start its construction soon.
In the evening edition of the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF), the federal Executive published the agreement that “declares the execution of projects and works by the Government of Mexico of public interest and national security” by which the agencies are instructed and entities of the Federal Public Administration (APF) to carry out the actions indicated, in relation to the projects and works of the Government of Mexico considered of public interest and national security, as well as priority and strategic for national development.
It should be noted that according to article 3 of the Federal Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, all the information generated, obtained, acquired, transformed or in the possession of the obligated subjects in the federal sphere, is public, accessible to any person and It may only be classified exceptionally as temporarily reserved for reasons of public interest and national security, or as confidential.
Meanwhile, article 110 of this same rule adds that the reserved information may include information that compromises national security, public security or national defense and has a genuine purpose and a demonstrable effect.
The works related to this decree are associated with infrastructure of the communications, telecommunications, customs, border, hydraulic, water, environment, tourism, health, railways, railways in all their energy modalities, ports, airports and those that, for its object, characteristics, nature, complexity and magnitude, are considered priority or strategic for national development.
Therefore, projects such as the Felipe Ángeles airport or the Mayan Train, among others, could be beneficiaries of the decree.
Permits in five days
Likewise, the government of President López Obrador ordered the entire APF to grant the provisional authorization, permits or licenses necessary to start the projects, “and thereby guarantee their timely execution, the expected social benefit and the exercise of the authorized budgets.”
It was established that the provisional permits will be issued within a maximum period of five business days from the presentation of the application and in the event that an express provisional authorization is not issued within said period, it will be considered resolved in a positive sense.
Likewise, the provisional authorization will be valid for 12 months, a period in which the definitive authorization must be obtained.
Among its arguments, the federal Executive asserted that Mexico requires infrastructure to promote its development in an inclusive way and bring opportunities to the most lagging regions in the communications, telecommunications, customs, border, hydraulic, water, environment, tourism, health, roads sectors. railways, railways in all its forms, energy, ports, airports, and other priority and strategic sectors that contribute to the growth and national security of the country.
For this reason, regional infrastructure, socioeconomic development and tourism projects are important to increase the economic benefit of tourism, create jobs, promote sustainable development and protect the environment.
In addition, the president considered that “the development and growth of the infrastructure in charge of the agencies and entities of the Federal Public Administration is in the public interest and national security, and that they translate into a collective benefit of all Mexicans, and that so that the current administration continues with the route aimed at promoting and consolidating the projects that will lead us as a nation to achieve economic growth and thereby achieve social welfare ”.
They hinder transparency
The director of Transparency Mexicana, Eduardo Bohórquez, considered that the published agreement is worrying.
“What is disturbing is that just where the commitment of this administration to transparency and openness could be shown – the strategic projects of the State – the decision has been to hinder transparency and access to government information,” he said.
With the above, he considered, that the federal administration renounces that society is an “ally of the government in the fight against corruption.”
On the other hand, Bohórquez added that the fact that a matter is classified as “national security” does not automatically mean that its classification is considered as “confidential information”, the agreement published in the DOF clearly makes access difficult and more expensive. to public information.
“This decision seems more to entrench itself than to open strategic projects for the country to social scrutiny,” he said.
Project progress
Fonatur presented the Environmental Impact Statement (MIA) for section 4 of the Mayan Train to the Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) for approval, which will have an estimated investment of 25,000 million. This work was awarded directly to ICA.
In addition, the MIAs of sections six and seven that will be in charge of the Sedena have yet to be entered. The new Tulum airport is in the same situation, which is expected to open before the end of the current administration and will also be built by military engineers
As long as such authorization is not available, which implies a minimum period of six months, no new construction work can be started.
Regarding the extension of the suburban train, from the Lechería station to the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), the MIA was presented to Semarnat the last week of September. This work includes 36 months of execution (site preparation and construction) and will require an investment of 12,479.4 million pesos.
With yesterday’s presidential agreement, the processes can be accelerated by a few months.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx