Carlos Slim, AMLO debate Mexico City airport
Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim (pictured) and left-leaning Andrés Manuel López Obrador the current frontrunner in the election campaign have exchanged their views on the 250bn-peso (US$14bn) international airport under construction east of Mexico City.
At a press conference Monday, the magnate, who holds a majority stake in some construction and financial firms involved in building the airport, defended the project and criticized AMLO's proposal to cancel it.
"This is a paradigm, a fantastic trigger for development," Slim said. "I believe that halting the project means to stop the development of the country," he added.
The businessman said that the project "should have been awarded as a concession to be financed with private and social investment, without using public funds," so that it could have been developed faster.
CICSA, the infrastructure unit of Slim's Grupo Carso, and FCC Construcción, where he is the largest shareholder, formed part of consortiums that scored some of the airport's biggest contracts, for example for the terminal building and the construction of runway No.3.
In addition, Slim-owned pension fund manager Afore Inbursa also invested in the first Fibra E securities that were issued to fund the construction of the airport last month.
"The reason why we invested in the Fibra E was because it offers up to 10% effective interest rate," Slim said.
Asked about Slim's comments at a campaign rally in Sonora, veteran politician AMLO said the magnate's statements would be used as a weapon against him.
"If he [Slim] considers that [the airport] is a good business, why doesn't he build it with his own money, with a concession being awarded to him?," the former Mexico City mayor said.
"Although I respect his point of view, I do not share it. It is proven that the airport they want to build atop Texcoco lake will be very costly for the country. They will make a lot of money, but the country's budget is not large enough to finance such pharaonic work," AMLO said.
AMLO's arguments addressed
AMLO opposes the airport, among other reasons, because of its location. The construction site is in a former regulating reservoir and therefore prone to sinking, a fact Slim partly acknowledged during his press conference.
"Of course it is going to sink! What we have to do is to prepare an additional plan that addresses such concerns, as well as the investments that will have to be made. We need to stop with the over-exploitation of the aquifer," the magnate noted.
Slim also addressed AMLO's alternative proposal to relieve congestion at Mexico City's existing airport, which involves new runways at Santa Lucía military airport north of Mexico City and link them to the current airport.
"Are we going to go somewhere far to do a large investment just because it can be less costly, or are we going to invest in a place that is going to be a trigger for the city's development?," Slim asked.
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