Local small construction companies totally left out of the Maya Train Project

The execution of the work, in charge of companies such as ICA, Cicsa, BlackRock and Mota Engil has reduced the participation of hundreds of construction companies that were promised participation.

(El Financiero).- The construction of the Maya Train, projected to be delivered at the end of 2023, has left out the participation of small and medium-sized construction companies in the region, in addition to causing a shortage of materials such as steel and concrete, which has caused the cost of some of these products to rise up to 30 percent.

The execution of the work, in charge of companies such as ICA, Cicsa, BlackRock, and Mota Engil has reduced the participation of hundreds of construction companies in need of work and investments.

Raúl Monforte González, president of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry (CMIC), Yucatan delegation, said that government control through the army in such large works has taken away the participation of its more than 300 members in the entity alone. 

“The problem for micro and small companies is that we don’t have access to these large works and they are in the hands of a single company so that small rebound is concentrated in very few companies, three or four,” he said.

Francisco Solares Alemán, national president of the CMIC, added that the industry, in general, is still at risk, since from 2008 to date the value of production has fallen by up to 35 percent, due to lack of public investment, economic uncertainty and the little participation of private companies.

“The private sector has also slowed down the speed with which it has been investing and currently, of the work that is done in Mexico, 80 percent is with private resources and 20 percent with public resources. The federal budget for infrastructure is up 21 percent this year and that’s encouraging,” he said.

However, he stressed that large works are concentrated in a few companies, so he said, there is no more equitable benefit in all sectors.

Solares Alemán added that the lack of planning and execution of resources is one of the main challenges for these megaprojects and recalled the case of the Mexico-Toluca Interurban Train, which to date has not been completed yet.

“The Mexico-Toluca Train was a priority project of the previous administration and it will not be finished during this administration either, this is an example of the lack of planning that we sometimes have in our country,” he said.

Materials are 30% more expensive 
In addition, the Maya Train has caused a shortage of materials such as concrete, steel, electrical, among others, and increased its cost by up to 30 percent in the region due to the high concentration of supplies that the work requires to continue running, builders assured. 

Alves Desarrollos, a real estate company that has investments of more than 653 million pesos in Yucatan, said that the Maya Train “came to detonate” the activity and investment in the five states that the project will cross through 19 stations and 1,500 kilometers, but, its development has raised material prices more than expected.

“Yes, there is an important issue of inflation too, if the prices of steel and white cement have been rising, those products have been seen scarce, it is something that is affecting us right now. (The materials have become more expensive) by a percentage, 30 percent,” stated Guadalupe Pérez, commercial manager of Grupo Alves Desarrollos.

He added that the arrival in the region of large contracting companies such as ICA has also caused labor to be scarce since everyone wants to work on this mega project, although he assured that construction workers have better salaries but extreme working conditions. such as long hours and overwork.

According to figures from Fonatur, the construction of the Maya Train has triggered around 90 thousand jobs generated in southeast Mexico, however, in the progress of work, the project does not exceed more than 30 percent execution of resources and work.

Finally, according to national and regional construction companies, the passage of the Maya Train in the Yucatan Peninsula will attract a greater flow of tourists, real estate investments, and the opportunity to develop more infrastructure, connectivity, and service projects, which could boost the activity of the micro and small construction companies of the five states (Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo).

TYT Newsroom