Introduction
Amidst the second phase of Mexico’s Fourth Transformation, there are approximately a dozen infrastructure projects involving entities within the Valley of Mexico. This number doubles when considering megaprojects inherited from the López Obrador era.
Key Projects and Collaboration
As the presidential word is pledged, there’s no excuse for delay. With Claudia Sheinbaum’s first anniversary at Mexico’s National Palace approaching, the urgency to realize these promises is evident. These projects include completing El Insurgente’s stretch, ensuring terrestrial accessibility to AIFA, constructing the elevated Santa Martha-Chalco trolley bus, sanitizing watersheds, building recycling plants, and the Bachetón.
The federal government has taken the initiative, with the capital’s chief executive, Clara Brugada, and state governors from the State of Mexico (Delfina Gómez) and Hidalgo (Julio Menchaca) showing no objection to these federal interventions.
The Valley of Mexico’s Economic Core
This central economic core spans 2,086.3 square kilometers and, in the last intercensal period (2015), housed over 20.5 million Mexicans around the Republic’s capital, maintaining demographic stability with a declining population in central areas and growth in peripheral regions, primarily the State of Mexico.
Stakeholders and Upcoming Meeting
Approximately fifty alcaldías (boroughs) and municipalities, with popular representatives from all political signs in Mexico City, Hidalgo, and the State of Mexico, will attend a meeting with federal officials to explore new collaboration routes.
The meeting is hosted by Emilio Romano Mussali, president of the Association of Banks. The inaugural session will feature Rafael Muñoz Moreno, the Banco Mundial’s principal economist for Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela, and Laura Ripani, the representative of the Inter-American Development Bank (BID) in Mexico.
High-ranking officials from the Secretariat of Government (Segob), Secretariat of Development (Sedatu), and the SABG; legislators, academics, business leaders, and the heads of finances in Mexico City, Hidalgo, and the State of Mexico responded to the legislators’ call for a pact promoting sustainable governance and public finances in the metropolitan area surrounding Mexico’s capital, home to one-third of Mexico’s population.
Future Goals and Current Challenges
According to Diputado Pablo Trejo Pérez, president of the Hacienda Commission in the CDMX Congress, the final outcome should be a critical path aligning regulatory design and policies with budget allocation across all levels of government in the Valley of Mexico’s metropolitan area. This involves constructing legal reforms and intergovernmental coordination mechanisms to ensure the realization of strategic metropolitan projects.
Currently, there are gaps and redundancies in planning and finance laws across the entities forming the metropolis.
Trejo Pérez, Iztacalco’s representative, and Alejandro Encinas Rodríguez, Mexico City’s Planning Secretary, have championed this initiative based on Article 29, Fraction Q, Section D of Mexico City’s Constitution.
Key Questions and Answers
- Question: Has the time come to establish the Metropolitan Parliament?
- Question: Will the Fondo Metropolitano be restored?
Answer: This initiative is being promoted with the constitutional principle established in Article 29, Fraction Q, Section D of Mexico City’s Constitution.
Answer: Before its liquidation in the previous administration, the Fondo Metropolitano had accumulated 10,000 million pesos. The implementation of a comprehensive Metropolitan Development Plan that coordinates each entity’s spending programs might be a distant goal, but it could be the key to 2030.
