In the Palenque-San Cristóbal de las Casas highway construction project, which will be the first section from Palenque to Ocosingo, the first five kilometers have already begun, and the investment of the first billion pesos is already underway. The construction companies are from Chiapas, reported Rogelio Tamayo Carboney, state president of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry (CMIC).
In an interview, he explained that these are the first five kilometers of construction; the work has started from scratch. The construction of four bridges is also planned for the first section, which will run from the municipal seat of Palenque to Ocosingo. The highway’s groundbreaking will be on June 8.
For now, the consortium is made up of seven companies for the construction of the highway. There are another four companies involved in the bridges, and more are involved in the same sections. In total, there will be about 20 companies for the first five kilometers. We are starting from scratch for the sections.
For now, the businessman said, this is the largest investment in the federal highway that will connect the municipalities of San Cristóbal de Las Casas with Palenque and the municipalities located along the stretch, such as Chilón, Sitalá, Oxchuc, San Juan Cancuc, among others, indicated Tamayo Carboney.
For this year, the overall investment would be six billion pesos, coming to the state government, in addition to the 18 billion pesos that will be allocated by the 124 municipalities. We hope that the resources will be allocated and that they will continue to be applied and benefit Chiapas businesses, especially the microenterprises, which are the majority, the businessman explained.
We’re in that situation. One billion pesos are being spent, and the majority of what was planned and expected for this year is still missing, both at the state and municipal levels. What we hope for is a reactivation of the construction industry by the second half of this fiscal year, 2025, he insisted.
On the other hand, he commented that work is being done on projects such as meatpacking plants and tourist center services, with resources that were conserved. There should be about 40 to 60 companies employed. We’re talking about about a thousand workers with direct jobs who generate about 3,000 indirect jobs. Although not all the resources have yet arrived, the municipalities have not received all of them, and it’s a bit slow.
A spillover is already starting to be generated. Some bidding processes have already been carried out. The Institute of Physical Educational Infrastructure (INIFECH) has issued some maintenance and upkeep contracts. There have been four or five road contracts, and some actions have been taken by the Infrastructure Secretariat.
The housing program is very ambitious, but it’s only just getting started. The goal is to build nearly 50,000 homes in the state during this six-year term, which will have significant economic benefits and many job opportunities. This has been happening since this year. The state’s microenterprises, which comprise more than a thousand construction companies, are waiting for this investment because there hasn’t been an opportunity so far.
Source: oem
