Just last February 29, President López Obrador himself assured that they had restarted approaches with the American firm to try to reach a purchase agreement on the 2,400 hectares it owns in Playa del Carmen.
US firm Vulcan Materials revealed a new position around the conflict with the Mexican government, by which it definitively rejects the purchase offer of the Calica mine in Playa del Carmen. Vulcan considered that the proposal of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador “substantially undervalues” its limestone assets and the Punta Venado port.
The company claims to be a victim of “political threats, abuses of authority and false accusations” by the Mexican government to try to justify the conversion of its lands in Playa del Carmen into an “alleged Natural Protected Area,” says a company's statement.
The document even indicates that the plan announced by President López Obrador to convert the Calica mine into a tourist spot would not have any benefit for the population, “but rather for private purposes of commercial tourism and large cruise ship operations, as well as naval activities. We will not accept this illegal expropriation of our investments.”
Presidential proposal rejected
Just last February 29, President López Obrador himself assured that his government had restarted approaches with Vulcan to try to reach a purchase agreement on the 2,400 hectares that this company owns in Playa del Carmen through its subsidiary Calica.
The Mexican president also assured then that these negotiations implied pausing the process of declaring the land a Protected Natural Area, which was announced as a measure to prevent the continuation of the extractive activity that Calica carries out at the place to export construction material to the United States.
The purchase proposal for the 2,400 hectares that the company owns in Playa del Carmen amounts to US$389 million.
With its purchase proposal the López Obrador administration was also seeking to settle the international litigation that Vulcan Materials filed against the Mexican government in the framework of the Mexico-United States-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA), through which the US firm claims a compensation payment of US$ 1.9 billion.
Vulcan Materials' position known this Monday reaffirms that the company views the presidential offer insufficient in relation to the commercial cost of the reserves of stone material that the company has at Playa del Carmen.
“At no time have we received a 'generous offer' to purchase our property. We were given an informal appraisal, without signatures and without details, that substantially undervalues our assets, including the limestone reserves that we own under Mexican law, as well as the only deep draft port in the region."
"We will not give up our investments and work, much less for a nominal value far from reality and unilaterally imposed by the government of Mexico," concludes the company's statement.
