Mexico City Congress Holds Working Session With METRÓPOLIS and SEDATU on Valle de México Metropolitan Planning Program, Digi Mart USA News (Mexico City): Mexico City’s Congress held a working session on Thursday with the Secretariat of Planning, Territorial Planning and Metropolitan Coordination (METRÓPOLIS) and the Secretariat of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (SEDATU) to advance analysis of the Valle de México Metropolitan Zone Planning Program (POZMVM).
The meeting was led by Deputy Xóchitl Bravo Espinosa, president of the Junta de Coordinación Política (JUCOPO), along with Enrique Irazoque Palazuelos, head of METRÓPOLIS, and José Alfonso Iracheta Carroll, undersecretary for Territorial, Urban and Housing Planning at SEDATU. The federal agency regulates the four states that make up the metropolitan zone.
Bravo Espinosa recalled that a first working session with METRÓPOLIS took place on October 15, when Irazoque addressed questions from JUCOPO members about the program. She said SEDATU would respond this time to concerns raised by parliamentary groups after the agency issued a circular on the program on October 18.
Bravo Espinosa stressed the program’s importance for improving quality of life in Mexico City, the State of Mexico, Hidalgo and Morelos. Deputies from those states signed the “Protocolo Constitutivo del Parlamento Metropolitano del Valle de México,” which she said commits local congresses not to legislate in ways that undermine residents’ rights, including on increasing the predial, or property tax.
Irazoque said the POZMVM remains in a consultation process and that METRÓPOLIS is willing to build consensus with the other three state governments and the federal government before the document is approved. He said the agency would remain attentive to the feedback it receives and expected to present a more refined document.
Iracheta said the planning process begins by recognizing the zone’s metropolitan dimension, which includes four states, 84 municipalities and boroughs, and approximately 22.8 million people. He said the goal is a shared long-term vision and coordination and governance mechanisms to guide the metropolis’s growth.
He described the program as a framework instrument that will help different levels of government coordinate, while each state and municipality implements public policies under its own legal framework covering areas such as water and mobility.
Deputy Andrés Atayde Rubiolo of the National Action Party (PAN) said coordination is needed to address problems faced by residents of the metropolitan zone but must be accompanied by greater budget investment. He said the PAN believes the planning program should not be imposed.
PAN Deputy Diego Garrido López asked SEDATU to remove nine provisions from the POZMVM, including updating cadastral values to commercial values, new collection mechanisms, recovery of land value gains, forced sale, and caps on property sale prices. He called for the removal of the so-called “predialazo” to be established in writing and not only in public statements, and handed the official a written request.
Partido Verde (PVEM) Deputy Javier Ramos Franco said it is necessary to clarify the program’s scope, guarantee legal certainty and protect property rights. He also stressed the importance of continuing these working sessions and addressing citizens’ concerns to avoid future conflicts.
