Quintana Roo Updates Urban Development Plans Along Maya Train Route

Chetumal, Quintana Roo — State authorities are updating urban development programs in municipalities along the Maya Train route to manage rapid population growth and provide legal certainty for investment, officials announced.

The Secretariat for Sustainable Territorial and Urban Development (Sedetus) said the updated programs align with the National Program for Land Planning and Urban Development. Jose Alberto Alonso Ovando, the department’s head, said the state’s biggest challenge is population growth.

“Our main challenge is population growth; while in other states the population is declining, we have two major issues: the growth of cities and social mobility,” Ovando said.

Miriam Madero Gomez, deputy secretary for land planning, said Puerto Morelos has completed the full update of its Urban Development Program for the Population Center and its Municipal Urban Development Program, formally incorporating the towns of Ciudad Morelos and Delirios. Combined with a renewed Local Ecological Planning Program, the coastal municipality now has full legal certainty to attract sustainable investment and infrastructure.

Municipality-by-municipality progress

• Puerto Morelos: Completed. Achieved full legal certainty with updated urban development and ecological planning programs.
• Benito Juárez (Cancún): In progress. Developing secondary zoning with participatory workshops and pending public consultation.
• Tulum: Being redrawn. The previous plan was canceled after legal challenges over land-use restrictions and densities; a new plan is being developed with funding from Infonavit, Mexico’s national housing fund.
• Isla Mujeres and Mahahual: Nearly finished. Their instruments are ready for publication.
• Felipe Carrillo Puerto and Bacalar: Current. Plans published in the state’s official gazette.
• Playa del Carmen (Solidaridad): Reviewing a zoning proposal.
• Cozumel: Formulating a plan for the entire municipality.

The work is being carried out with the federal Secretariat for Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (Sedatu) as part of the Maya Train project.