MEXICO CITY—Mexican President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador said his government would scrap Mexico City’s $13.3 billion airport that is under construction in favor of a less-ambitious project, putting his incoming administration at odds with the country’s business leaders.

Monday’s decision followed a controversial four-day public informal referendum launched by Mr. López Obrador to determine what he said was the will of the people.

...</s>MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday his government would follow the results of a referendum where voters called for ditching a part-built $13 billion new airport for Mexico City.

Lopez Obrador told reporters that the government would save around 100 billion pesos ($5 billion) by adding two runways to convert a military air base north of the capital and keep the current airport.</s>Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday that the New Mexico City International Airport (NAICM) project had been cancelled following a referendum in which the "No" vote won.

"The decision is to obey the will of the citizens. As a result, two landing strips will be constructed at the Santa Lucia military airport and the current Mexico City airport will be improved, and the Toluca airport reopened," the leader of the leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena) said in a press conference.</s>MEXICO CITY, Oct 29 — Mexicans voted to halt construction of a controversial new airport for the capital, according to results of a referendum announced yesterday that saw 69 per cent of voters reject the project.

With 98 per cent of the votes tallied, 747,000 voted in favour of repurposing the Santa Lucia military airport instead, according to Enrique Calderon, president of the Arturo Rosenblueth Foundation, which is in charge of counting the votes.

The 64-year-old incoming leftist president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who succeeds Enrique Pena Nieto on December 1, had threatened to cancel the multi-billion-dollar new airport, charging it was a waste of taxpayer money.

The soon-to-be president, a former Mexico City mayor, has also criticised the environmental impact of the project — whose estimated cost is more than US$13 billion (RM54.33 billion) — and said it is marred by corruption.

But the four-day consultation put him on a collision course with the business world, which says the new terminal is needed to ease woes at the aging current airport, which handled nearly 45 million passengers last year.

Lopez Obrador says instead of building a new terminal northeast of the capital, a military airbase south of the mega-city could be repurposed.

Billionaire Mexican businessman Carlos Slim is the main investor in the new airport, and has led the business community’s criticism of Lopez Obrador, who won the presidency in a resounding victory in July.

“Canceling the project would amount to canceling the economic growth of the country,” Slim said in April.

Slim’s construction company CICSA was awarded the US$4.7 billion contract to build the airport’s terminal in consortium with six other companies.

Pena Nieto’s government says the new airport would create up to 450,000 jobs and have the capacity to handle 125 million passengers a year when fully operational.

Lopez Obrador’s decision to submit the airport project — a technical one that has implications for air safety — to a public vote has been widely questioned.

The International Civil Aviation Organization, a specialized UN agency, supports the building of the new airport.

Mexican voters were asked to answer the following question: “Given the saturation of Mexico City International Airport, which option do you consider to be the best for the country?”

Two choices were given: repurposing the Santa Lucia military base, a plan that would also mean renovating the current airport and one in neighboring Toluca; or continuing to build the new one and abandoning the old one. — AFP</s>Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, president-elect of Mexico, said Monday he will respect voters' wishes to stop construction on a new $13.3 billion airport.

Voters rejected building the new international airport in favor of upgrading a military airfield. More than one million people voted -- and nearly 70 percent opposed the new airport, which is already partly built near Mexico City

"Above all, we are happy that it was a democratic process that decided. Where there is democracy, there isn't corruption," Lopez Obrador, who will take office Dec. 1, told reporters Monday.

"This decision is taken with absolute respect to the rule of law, without affecting the interests of companies or investors," he added, saying the "wise, intelligent" decision could save the government $5 billion.

Although the referendum isn't legally binding, Lopez Obrador said he will respect the vote.

Lopez Obrador stressed that upgrading the airfield with two new runways is technically viable, and said officials will try to shift the companies from the new airport to the new runways.

His comments came after the Mexican association of businessmen, a guild of business owners known as Coparmex, had warned the plan to build a new airport lacked legal validity.

Guild head Gustavo de Hoyos had warned Lopez Obrador hours earlier about the new airport's potential "damages to the economy resulting from an erratic decision".

"We expect actions based on certainties from technical evidence and rational valuation of what is better for Mexico," de Hoyos said.

He said Lopez Obrador showed moderation after winning the presidency in July and that he hoped that he'd also show similar moderation in "his first relevant message as president elect."

La Vanguardia reported the referendum on the new airport was controversial. It ended Sunday after four days of voting. It was highly criticized because of a "lack of guarantees, lack of independent observers and no certainty regarding the vote count." The report also said it was possible for voters to cast more than one ballot.

Bidding to move forward with construction of the airport was suspended in July while Lopez Obrador reviewed the entire process initiated by outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto, Milenio reported. The new airport would have been completed by 2020.</s>MEXICO CITY—Mexicans who participated in a public consultation on the future of the Mexico City airport voted to cancel the $13.3 billion new airport under construction, organizers said Sunday.

President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has said he would abide by the results of the consultation, and his spokesman Jesús Ramírez said the president-elect will on Monday explain what steps will be taken.</s>Following his election a few months ago, the current president-elect of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, announced that a referendum would be held to determine whether or not the government should proceed with the Foster + Partners and FR-EE's proposed 13 billion dollar project for the International Airport of the Mexico City.

Making good on his campaign promise, a public vote on the project's fate was held from 25-28 October, asking citizens to answer the following question: Given the saturation of the International Airport of Mexico City, which option do you think will be best for the country? The two options given to voters were:
• "Recondition the current airport in Mexico City, Toluca and build two runways at the Santa Lucia Air Base"
• "Continue with the construction of the new airport in Texcoco and cease operations of the current International Airport of Mexico City."





Only 1 million people voted (the country's population is approximately 131 million). 311,132 participants voted for the new airport (the Texcoco option) and 748,335 voted to refurbish the existing airport. Despite this low turnout - less than 1% - the vote is purported to be binding. 



This controversy comes amidst the fact that construction had already started on the new airport and that it was expected to open as soon as 2020. It is not clear how much money has already been spent on the project, but questions regarding the cost-efficiency of the new outcome have already begun. 



The result has additionally triggered a depreciation of the peso; 1 USD is now equivalent to 19.70 Mexican pesos.

So far no official statements have been made by Foster + Partners or FR-EE. However, Fernando Romero, the founder of FR-EE, shared a tweet written by Juan Pablo Castañon, President of the Business Coordinating Council (translated below).



"We recognize the citizens who expressed their opinion in the consultation about the airport. However, we reiterate our position that this consultation, as it was organized, should not be binding and did not offer guarantees of impartiality, certainty, and objectivity."

According to El Financiero, there is speculation that the cancellation of the New International Airport for Mexico City may open the door for Mexico to be taken to international courts. Moisés Kalach, coordinator of the Strategic Neurological Advisory Board, stated that this is one of the conclusions of a study carried out by private initiative.

Following the vote, the current president-elect publicly endorsed the Santa Lucia project (the refurbishment option, listed first in the public vote), pointing out that the current airport will be improved and the Toluca Airport will be reactivated.

The decision made by citizens is rational, democratic and effective. Since the analysis began on this matter we showed that the interests of companies and investors were safe, there are funds that support the commitments in contracts and investments but besides that there is support, our word, our authority moral and policy to address any claim of companies or investors.



- Andrés Manuel López Obrador

See more about the Santa Lucía project, headed up by Grupo Riobó, here.</s>MEXICO CITY — Voters in Mexico have rejected completion of partly built new airport for Mexico City, opposing it by a 70 to 29 per cent margin.

Mexico’s President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday he will respect the referendum, effectively ending the $13 billion project which is already about one-third built.

“The decision taken by the citizens is democratic, rational and efficient,” Lopez Obrador said. “The people decided.”

It is unclear what will be done with the enormous foundations already built on the site, a former lakebed known as Texcoco.

The organizers of the referendum reported late Sunday that just over 1 million people participated in the referendum. The vote was criticized, because only about one out of every 90 registered Mexican voters participated.

Mexico’s peso dropped by about 2 per cent against the U.S. dollar on Monday morning after the decision was made public, trading at about 19.77 to $1.

Lopez Obrador had pledged during his campaign to cancel the project, claiming it was marred by overspending and corruption.

He instead favours adding two commercial runways to a military air base in the town of Santa Lucia, about 28 miles (45 kilometres) away, which would imply an improved road to get there from Mexico City and the current 1940s-era airport.

Lopez Obrador said he had received assurances from international experts that the current airport and Santa Lucia could operate simultaneously.

He said that Mexicans will save about $5 billion by abandoning the unfinished Texcoco project. But most important, he said that the decision means “corruption has ended.”

Still, given the distances between the current airport, the planned Santa Lucia terminal and the satellite airport in the nearby city of Toluca, it remains unclear how people could make connecting flights within any reasonable amount of time.

Lopez Obrador called the decisions “a triumph for the environmental movement,” saying that the Texcoco project threatened to eliminate the last remaining vestiges of lakes that once covered the Valley of Mexico. Lake Nabor Carrillo had become a refuge for migratory birds but was too close to the Texcoco site and would have posed the threat of birds hitting jet engines.

Lopez Obrador said he hoped that the unfinished site could be used to create “a big sports and ecological centre for Mexico City.”</s>Mexicans voted to scrap the construction of a part-built multibillion-dollar airport near the capital, Mexico City, in a referendum on Sunday.

The four-day vote was launched by President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday in a move that risks putting his incoming administration on a collision course with investors.

Voters were asked to chose whether the incoming government should finish the new $14.5bn New Mexico International Airport (NAIM) project or upgrade a military airbase to be used in addition to the current airport, which is the country's busiest.

Sixty-nine percent of those who voted rejected the NAIM option, according to the Arturo Rosenblueth Foundation, a non-profit organisation which ran the count.

However, turnout was extremely low with only about 1 million people in the country of 129 million participating.

The public consultation vote was organised by Obrador's party, Morena, without involvement from the National Electoral Institute (INE). Opposition parties say that the consultation did not follow the proper rules.

Several local media outlets reported cases of people voting more than once and pointed out failures in software used to register voter identification cards.

But Obrador, defended the consultation, saying that there might be mistakes because they were not spending billions of pesos on the process, but insisted that it was clean.

While the vote is non-binding, Obrador has pledged to follow the results.

An essential upgrade or a waste of money?

During his presidential campaign, Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, called the NAIM project a waste of money.

The president-elect, who takes office on December 1, has also criticised the environmental impact of the project and alleged that the scheme was a "bottomless pit" marred by corruption.

The new airport located in the city of Texcoco is already about a third of the way complete. Construction started in 2015 under current President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Pena Nieto's government says the new airport would create up to 450,000 jobs and have the capacity to transit 125 million passengers a year when fully operational.

Local business leaders and financial analysts supported the current project, saying it is essential to easing pressure on the aging Mexico City International Airport, which handled nearly 45 million passengers in 2017, and warning that scrapping it would send a negative signal to local and foreign investors.

Following the news of the result, the peso fell more than one percent against the dollar.</s>MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's President-elect said Monday he will respect the result of a referendum that rejected a partly built new airport for Mexico City, effectively ending the $13 billion project.

"The decision taken by the citizens is democratic, rational and efficient," Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said after 70 percent voted against the plan. "The people decided."

It is unclear what will be done with the enormous foundations already built on the site, a former lakebed known as Texcoco.

The organizers of the referendum reported late Sunday that just over 1 million people participated in the referendum. The vote has been criticized, in part because only about one out of every 90 registered Mexican voters participated.

Mexico's peso dropped by about 2 percent against the U.S. dollar on Monday morning after the decision was made public, trading at about 19.77 to $1. The Mexican stock exchange's IPC index dropped about 3 percent in early trading. Critics had said the cancellation might affect investor confidence in Mexico, but Lopez Obrador said investors, debt holders and contractors in the abandoned project will be protected.

Lopez Obrador had pledged during his campaign to cancel the Texcoco project, claiming it was marred by overspending and corruption.

He instead favors adding two commercial runways to a military air base in the town of Santa Lucia, about 28 miles (45 kilometers) away. That would imply an improved road to get there from Mexico City and the current 1940s-era airport. The current, saturated airport would have been closed had Texcoco been built.

Lopez Obrador said he had received assurances from international experts that the current airport and Santa Lucia could operate simultaneously. Still, given the distances between the current airport, the planned Santa Lucia terminal and the satellite airport in the nearby city of Toluca, it remains unclear how people could make connecting flights within any reasonable amount of time.

He said that Mexicans will save about $5 billion by abandoning the unfinished Texcoco project, which was started with what critics said was little real environmental study by current President Enrique Pena Nieto.

It was supposed to be the signature infrastructure project of Pena Nieto's administration, though it wouldn't have been finished for several years more. But the outgoing administration was marked by corruption and allegations of insider dealing with contractors, which helped propel Lopez Obrador to the presidency.

The referendum held over several days last week marked the first time such a large project had been submitted to a public debate and vote. Lopez Obrador said the decision meant "corruption has ended."

Mexico's business community — which overwhelmingly supported the now-cancelled project — questioned the referendum, which they said was unofficial, unrepresentative and biased.

"We recognize that the citizens expressed their opinion in the referendum," wrote Juan Pablo Castanon, the head of Mexico's Business Coordinating Council, an industry group. "But we repeat our position that the referendum, as it was organized, should not be binding and did not offer guarantees of impartiality certainty and objectivity."

Later, Castanon fiercely criticized Lopez Obrador's decision to obey the vote, saying it "seriously hurts Mexico's image in the world" and "sends a message of uncertainty" to financial markets.

Some questioned whether such a decision, involving complex issues of air traffic control, should be decided in a referendum.

The national Confederation of Chambers of Commerce wrote that "it should be a technical and financial decision, not a political one, based on a popular vote."

Lopez Obrador called the decision "a triumph for the environmental movement," saying that the Texcoco project threatened to eliminate the last remaining vestiges of lakes that once covered the Valley of Mexico. Lake Nabor Carrillo had become a refuge for migratory birds but was too close to the Texcoco site and would have posed the threat of birds hitting jet engines.

Lopez Obrador said he hoped that the unfinished site could be used to create "a big sports and ecological center for Mexico City."

However, much of the environmental destruction associated with the Texcoco project is already done: Millions of tons of rock were quarried in nearby towns and transported to the site to fill and drain the swampy former lakebed.

Part of the reason why Lopez Obrador — and many other Mexicans — were suspicious of the Texcoco project was the belief that the new airport would have continued sinking into the swamp or flooded.

The decision also spells an end to an ambitious design involving celebrated architect Norman Foster, which would have appeared from above as a giant "X," an apparent reference to Mexico's aircraft registration code which starts with X.
A nation-wide referendum called upon by Mexico's president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador results in a majority of votes for the cancellation of the new airport and in support of upgrades to the current Mexico City and Toluca airports as well as the adapting of Santa Lucía Military Base's runways for civilian aircraft use.