Mexico's new president said construction will begin Sunday on a controversial plan for a railway connecting the main tourist attractions across the south of the country.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said in a press conference that construction of the 932-mile rail line will begin after a ceremony with leaders from 12 indigenous communities to ask mother earth for permission to break ground.
"We have the studies," Lopez Obrador said.
And yet there is no public information on how the Mayan train will impact the rain forests and wetlands it'll cut through or the native communities living there.
A group of college professors has called on Lopez Obrador to stall project, saying its potential impacts have not yet been fully studied.
The leaders of some indigenous communities in the area say they have not been consulted.
The project is expected to cost $6 to $8 billion, Lopez Obrador said.
