Private sector urges progress on US$210mn Yucatán port works

The private sector of Mexico’s Yucatán state is urging governor Mauricio Vila to unlock negotiations for the 4.2bn-peso (US$213mn) project to expand, modernize and operate Progreso port. 

The new president of transformation industry chamber Canacintra, Abelardo de Jesús Casares, said the project is vital. 

“The private sector and the government agree on its importance, but every day that passes without [the negotiation] being concluded we are losing opportunities that will not return,” he said during his appointment ceremony. The reasons for the delay remain unknown.

In September 2021, port authority Asipona Progreso said in a statement that it was analyzing five bids it received in August for the project. But no updates have been provided since then.

The state government signaled intentions to advance on the expansion and modernization, which are necessary to build a US$550mn shipyard Italy’s Fincantieri is in charge of.

Vila talked to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and interior minister Adán Augusto López to unlock the project. 

Besides, the state awarded a 30-year concession to build, operate and maintain a 1.5bn-peso bypass to connect the Mérida-Progreso highway with the viaduct that leads to Progreso port.