Although the Terminal 3 project at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) was canceled just over a year after its announcement, and construction never formally began, millions of pesos were spent on the acquisition of the necessary material. for the relocation work of the facilities of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) and the Navy (Semar), which were part of this work.
The early cancellation of the new terminal project left abandoned concrete foundation caissons, which required an investment of 121.4 million pesos (mdp), in addition to other materials such as wooden formwork, reinforcing steel and PAD pipe that are currently at weather and without use, which required spending an additional 14.9 million pesos. In total, both items add up to 136.3 million pesos in abandoned material, according to audit 2020-2-09KDN-22-0378-2021, which is part of the 2020 Public Account, carried out by the Superior Audit Office of the Federation (ASF).
AICM Terminal 3 was announced in April 2019 as part of the works that would make up the Mexico City Airport System, which also includes Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) and Toluca. In the case of the AICM, the conversion of the Presidential Hangar into a new terminal was planned, which would add 17 new contact positions to the airport.
But by June 2020, about three months after the Covid-19 pandemic was declared, the then Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT) proposed the cancellation of the work due to the effects of the health contingency in the airline industry.
“Due to the pandemic, the operational needs have changed,” the agency said in a June 2020 statement. “Considering that the new Felipe Ángeles International Airport will be inaugurated in March 2022, in Santa Lucía, State of Mexico, with a initial capacity for 20 million passengers, the additional capacity in the AICM derived from the construction of T3, would already be unnecessary”. With this argument, the dependency canceled the work.
At that time, the AICM had already transferred 907.3 million pesos to the Sedena in different exhibitions between 2019 and 2020, with the aim of relocating the military installations, an amount of which a large part was reintegrated into the AICM. The relocation also responded to a logistics issue, since it was close to Terminal 2 that generated obstructions in civil and military operations.
The audit states that the material found in the open is in the process of being used in other construction projects for this year, although it did not provide further details.
Risk due to lack of emergency platform
On the other hand, the ASF warns that some work carried out in this process damaged key areas of the AICM, which could lead to a stoppage of operations in an emergency.
“It was found that with said construction the Emergency Platform (Gota de Seguridad) or isolated aircraft parking position located next to runway 05R-23L was affected,” the document refers, for which the AICM is left without an area care of accidents or dangerous activities.
The document even indicates that, by not having this facility, the AICM is exposed to sanctions from national and international agencies that certify the operation of airports, and even in the event of an alert, a remote area would have to be used either in current taxiways or platforms, which could cause a stoppage in airport operations until it is attended to.
As of the date of the audit -November 2021- the work to restore this area continued to be suspended, although the AICM operation management had stated that there was an alternate area for it. However, restoring the emergency platform will generate an additional cost for the AICM, of which no reference was given, and its construction and completion is scheduled for this year.
