While visiting Sonora this week, Mexico’s president promised significant federal support for major infrastructure projects in the state.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, widely known as AMLO, said during a Friday press conference in Hermosillo that a portion of a more than $4 billion federal fund will be used to back three significant projects in Sonora.

“The port in Guaymas is going to be modernized,” he said. That’s a commitment we’re making.”  

It was also a campaign promise of Sonoran governor, and the president’s former security secretary, Alfonso Durazo.

AMLO said his government would also support a major rehabilitation of the border city of Nogales, Sonora’s downtown. That would include moving the train tracks that run through the center, often snarling traffic on both sides of the border. The third project is an improvement of customs facilities in the state. 

Comcaac Nation water

Access to water has been a perennial problem for many indigenous groups in Sonora, including the Comcaac Nation on the Sea of Cortez. 

During the press conference, Lopez Obrador was asked what his government would do to ensure reliable access to water in the Comcaac community of Punta Chueca.

A desalination plant in the town has not operated reliably, and even when functioning does not provide sufficient water for everyone, leaving many to head elsewhere to haul potable water back. 

In response to the question, the president publicly committed federal funds to a long-term solution.