MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday attacked an official report saying that the cost of his cancellation of a new airport in Mexico City in 2018 by the previous government was much higher than which his government claimed.
The Federal Audit Office of Mexico (ASF) said it estimated that the cancellation of the partially built airport on the eastern flank of the city cost nearly 332 billion pesos ($ 16 billion), or 232 billion pesos more than the Department of Transportation in April 2019.
“I want them to explain the figure,” Lopez Obrador told a news conference.
“It’s wrong, it’s an exaggeration,” he added, suggesting that the ASF help its opponents.
After a referendum on which he was regularly criticized, Lopez Obrador announced at the end of October 2018 the termination of the project, his predecessor’s flagship infrastructure scheme, which would initially cost $ 13 billion.
Lopez Obrador was elected president in July 2018, and he made the cancellation call based on the referendum nearly five weeks before taking office in December of that year.
He argued that the airport project was riddled with corruption and geological resonance. Barely 1 percent of the population participated in the vote, which was overseen by the president’s party.
The cancellation of the ambitious project plagued financial markets, and although the government spent billions of dollars on paying off investors, Lopez Obrador has always maintained that his decision saved the state treasury billions.
He then ordered the construction of a cheaper alternative airport north of the city, which was overseen by the army.
The ASF report also highlighted other waste in the public sector during 2019 on Lopez Obrador’s watch, which he also questioned.
“Their numbers are wrong,” he said. “I have other data.”
(Reporting by Dave Graham and Raul Cortes; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)