Santa Fe Mexico City’s challenged megaproject

Abstract

The representative of a neighborhood association in Mexico City told me that a new arrival in the neighborhood asked him where to hook up his sewage line. The response was surprising :“I have no clue where you can hook it up! If you go to the authorities they will tell you there is no sewage network. We are also missing a water treatment plant… We need $50 million for the electric power to be installed properly and we are short of one electric substation… We have severe water shortages. We have only four police cars. We do not have garbage collection, street cleaning and gardening services…. We had to fix potholes, repave the streets, paint and restore 90% of the street lighting.” You might expect a response like this from people living in a squatter settlement or poor neighborhood. Surprisingly, the interview took place in Santa Fe, Mexico City, the largest business, commercial and residential urban megaproject in Latin America. The place was supposed to embody the “global city” in Mexico, and the new resident was the facility manager of a multinational corporation.