Ecobreves – MEXICO: Growing Opposition to Urban Freeway

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

MEXICO CITY, Dec 12 2011 (IPS) - Non-governmental organizations have called on the left-leaning government of Mexico City to halt construction of the Supervía freeway in the southeast of the capital, after a court revoked the environmental permit for the project. "The Supervía project has not withstood the analysis of qualified experts in estimates of vehicle capacity and investment recovery," Gerardo Moncada of El Poder del Consumidor (Consumer Power), told Tierramérica.

His organization has joined forces with AlConsumidor, Alternativas y Capacidades and Alarbo to call for a halt to the freeway project initiated in 2010 after the expropriation of land for the construction of highway lanes, tunnels and bridges, at a cost of 489 million dollars and with no public consultation on the matter.

This lack of consultation led another three NGOs to file an Administrative Court suit against the government for violations of the municipal environmental protection law, in which they were successful.