Last updated on April 26, 2021
Mexico City, Mexico — Director of the National Water Commission (Conagua) commented that they are working on the possibility of reversing the private Aguakán water concession in Cancun.
From the National Palace, Conagua director Blanca Jiménez Cisneros said they are working with both the municipality and state government.
“There are not many water privatizations in the country, but there are in six states, none of which, are working well. We are trying to work with the municipalities and with the states, such as Cancun and Aguascalientes, where the people are not happy.
“We are providing advice, but there has to be the will of both the states and the municipalities to be able to reverse it, always clearly within the framework of legality,” explained Blanca Jiménez Cisneros.
In 2014, the private Aguakán water concession was renewed for the municipality of Benito Juárez (Cancun) with a 30-year extension by then-mayor Paul Carrillo de Cáceres.
The Comisión Nacional del Agua (CONAGUA) is helping by way of advice to work toward reversing the privatization of these water supplies, she said at the morning conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador Thursday.
The issue was mentioned after Quintana Roo senator Marybel Villegas Canché summoned citizens to sign a petition to revoke the Aguakán concession in the municipalities of Benito Juárez, Solidaridad, Isla Mujeres and Puerto Morelos.
Blanca Jiménez Cisneros added that “We are giving advice because it has not been the federal government that has privatized the water, but the municipalities or the states,” she added.
Although the Congress of Quintana Roo has the power to legally promote and revoke the concession granted to Aguakán, the approval of Quintana Roo citizens is required, for which Marybel Villegas carried out a public consultation.
