According to Alfonso Pereira Palomo, the “Manuel Crescencio Rejón” terminal is underutilized, but he proposed that if relocated, it be to a point between Mérida and the port of Telchac…//
The former director of the airport of Mérida, Alfonso Pereira Palomo, said that although it is not necessary, it is viable to move from its current location the international airport of the City of Merida “Manuel Crescencio Rejón”, to detonate the economic development of the southern part of the city.
According to the businessman, this terminal is now “underutilized”, and added that a good relocation site would be between Merida and the port of Telchac.
“It is not necessary. I think that having an area of almost 700 hectares that are currently underutilized in an airport that has a lot to offer, still does not make it a priority issue. But if the project is revisited, that area could detonate economic development for the south,” said Pereira Palomo.
According to the interviewee, the land — once abandoned by the airport — could be pre-sold, and this resource could be used to finance the construction of the new airport and thus avoid indebtedness for the state.
“The new airport could be located in the coastal area, where the tourist development is taking place, between Progreso and Telchac, which is close to Mérida and the coast, we could say for Baca or Mocochá. This is because most of the people who use a plane (currently live in the north),” said the businessman.
He said that the move is not necessary, because he insisted that the current airport of Merida has much to offer yet, however he added that if relocated, it could generate a new economic balance between the south and north of the city.
“I believe that today the city has grown at an accelerated pace and in a disorganized way, and an eventual change in the location of the airport could contribute to the social (equality) between the Merida of the north and the south. A work of this magnitude could take a state government just over two years to materialize,” said Pereira Palomo.
Text and photo: Iván Duarte
