“Due to the accelerated growth, Mérida will no longer be a sustainable city in the next decade, warned the specialist of the Merida Unit of the Center for Advanced Studies (Cinvestav)”, Dalila Aldana Arana.
The situation will get more complicated if the rate of contamination, in its various modalities, such as garbage, noise pollution, suspended particles, etc., continues.
Currently, the sustainability that prevails in the state capital is notorious, but there is a high risk of a socioeconomic setback due to uncontrolled urban growth, a factor of significant influence.
She stressed that in a period of 10 years Mérida can lose the category of sustainable city, if the accelerated growth continues, Authorities need to begin considering the risk factors and establish strategies to avoid a greater impact.
The researcher of the Department of Resources of Cinvestav – Mérida, declared that at the moment, the Mérida metropolitan area has an extension of 50 kilometers, twice the extension it had one decade ago.
If preventive meausres are not taken, by the year 2030 the urban extension will be such that sustainable development will be disrupted, and at the same time, different deficiencies and irregularities will start to appear.
Given the growth in a decade, “many of the public services face serious problems to the detriment of the inhabitants, such as the obvious anomalies in public transport, drinking water and electricity, just to mention a few, becuase it is increasingly difficult to attend the demands of such a large population, ” she said.
“It used to take 15 to 20 minutes to cross the city from one end to the other, and now it takes more than half an hour. In fact, many people avoid moving around the city, as they think there is excessive traffic”, the expert concluded.
The Yucatan Times Newsroom
