AMLO new airport 128% over budget

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The AMLO government’s austerity policy only applies to the population, but not to its megaprojects, such as the Santa Lucía airport.

Despite several adjustments in public spending under the argument of AMLO’s ‘austerity’, Sedena increases the airport’s budget.

In the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic and with the motto of austerity, the federal government spent 128% more than it had a budget for the Santa Lucia Airport in 2020, one of the three main works of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

According to a report from the Center of Studies (CEFP) of the Chamber of Deputies, the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) spent last year 12,257 million 200,000 pesos, when the legislative palace of San Lázaro labeled it 5,372 million 200,000 pesos; In other words, the expense contemplated for the work increased 128%.

In the first quarter of 2020 alone, Sedena had already used up 97% of the budget assigned to it for the airport. Until March, they had spent 5,205 million 200,000 pesos.

This Wednesday, López Obrador inaugurated the Santa Lucía airbase, located in the municipality of Zumpango, in the State of Mexico. Construction of the airport is expected to be completed by March 21, 2022.

The complex will have three tracks, two of them civil and one military. The total cost of the work, including the land connection to the Mexico City International Airport and various military installations, is 82,136 million 100,000 pesos. The first year is expected to serve 19 million passengers.

For this 2021, the deputies who are mostly from Morena, López Obrador’s party, labeled 21,315 million pesos for the airport, which means an increase of 9,057, million 800,000 pesos compared to what was spent in 2020.

This occurs when the federal government has made several adjustments to public spending under the argument of “austerity” For example, the disappearance of 109 trusts related to science, sports, and emergency care.

A few weeks ago, López Obrador assured that he will continue the cuts to official spending: “ I am in favor of reducing government spending because even with Republican austerity there is still a lot of superfluous spending in the government. Government spending needs to be further reduced ”.

The other two main works of López Obrador are the Mayan Train, for which 7,471 million 200,000 pesos were spent in 2020, and the Dos Bocas refinery, in Tabasco, in which 43 million pesos were spent. Both works have had their budget increased year after year.

Source: forbes.com.mx, contrapesociudadano.com

The Mexico City Post