Due to a US$352 hill, new airport records its first cost overrun

Warning: foreach() argument must be of type array|object, bool given in /home/mexiconow/public_html/sites/mexiconow/wp-content/themes/mexiconowwpnew/single.php on line 253

MEXICO – The projected cost of the federal government’s airport project in México state has shot up by more than US$420 million mainly due to the presence of a pesky hill less than 10 kilometers from the construction site.

The master plan to convert the Santa Lucía Air Force Base into a commercial airport was presented in August last year, one month after Andrés Manuel López Obrador won the presidential election.

However, the plan has had to be modified due to the close proximity of the 2,625-meter-high Cerro de Paula, according to Secretaría de Defensa (Sedena) report seen by the newspaper El Economista.

The position of the two commercial runways has been changed as a result, which means that several military facilities will have to be relocated. The cost of the changes is estimated to be more than US$354.3 million.

The new master plan is being drawn up by French airport operator Aéroports de Paris and is expected to be presented in the second half of the year.

Source: Mexico News Daily