OVERVIEW OF RIGHTS OF WAY IN MEXICO AND LATIN AMERICA:

Presented by

Guillermo Manning

Carlos Sandoval

Jesús Sandoval

IntroductionIn this session we will review several concepts that affect the process of right of way

acquisition. These concepts are the result of the Mexican normativity and legislation.

First we will review the principles of ownership, since there are some players in Mexico

that are unique.

As second point we will review the kinds of real estate derived from legislation and also

the different types of public registers.

Next we will review the basic legal frame involved in right of way.

Afterwards we will review the acquisition process and we will see the different modes to

acquire land for a right of way project.

Some statistics of the major players of the right of way are presented, and finally the

dynamic of the process is reviewed focusing communities, ownership and negotiation

issues.

Principles of ownership The principles of ownership contained in the Mexican Constitution are:

1) Ownership corresponded originally to the Nation (the State), which has

transferred this to individuals.

2) The Nation can regulate real estate as dictated by public interest.

3) The Nation is directly responsible for the natural resources of the subsoil

(mines, petroleum, gas, nuclear energy), waters (sea, lakes, rivers), which

cannot be transferred to individuals. These resources can be exploited under

concession.

Principles of ownership 4) Concessions are granted both to Mexicans, and to the foreigners who pact with the Mexican

Government to be considered as Mexicans for this purpose and not to invoke the protection of their

Governments.

5) Foreigners cannot acquire the direct ownership of real estate within an area of 100 kilometers

along the borders with neighboring countries, or 50 kilometers along the coast (restricted areas).

– Modifications to de Foreign investment law states that with the pact corporations could own

within the restricted area to develop industrial, residential and commercial areas.

6) Agrarian property (rural or country properties) consists of various categories; lots of common land

or communal property granted to common land holders or communities, which cannot be negotiated

or belong to individuals. The existence of privately-owned agricultural smallholdings is also

recognized.

Kinds of real estateIn addition to the principles on ownership laid down in the Constitution, the

National Assets Law and Civil Codes mention the existence of two kinds of

property: that of public dominion and that held by individuals.

1) Property of public dominion is that corresponding to the Federation, States

and Municipalities, and to special laws.

2) Property of public dominion can also be: property in common use which can

be utilized by anyone (such as, for instance, air space, territorial waters,

beaches, ports, roads, bridges or monuments).

Kinds of real estate3) Public dominion property cannot belong to individuals (nor can it be transferred or

prescribed, meaning that it cannot be transmitted or acquired by prescription). In order for

someone outside the Federation to acquire public dominion property (such as property

destined for public service or unencumbered property), such property must be released

from public dominion by means of a disincorporation ruling issued by the President of the

Republic.

4) Agrarian common land nor communal property (which cannot be transferred or

prescribed).

5) Privately-owned property consists of everything not of public dominion (of the

Federation, States or Municipalities), nor agrarian common land nor communal property

(which cannot be transferred or prescribed). This privately-owned property forms the

subject matter of private operations, and is governed under the Civil Codes of each of the

States.

Public RegistersThe ownership of real estate is entered in sundry Public Registers, depending

on the type of property in question. These Registers are public, and serve to

make know the action taken in connection with real estate. 

For example, the following Registers exist:

1) The Public Register for Property carried in each State of the Mexican

Republic (and at times in certain Municipalities), which records the properties

belonging to individuals. Entered here are the details of the property, such as

location, surface area and boundaries and the name of the owner, the action

under which ownership was acquired (purchase/sale, inheritance), mortgages

or seizures in force over the property and any limitations which may exist in the

dominion (for example, a right of way). 

Public Registers2) The National Agrarian Register is where the documents recording property

operations, amendments and rights over common lands and community lands

are contained, together with legal or official resolutions which recognize, create,

amend of terminate common land or communal land rights and the guaranties

conferred over agrarian property.

3) The Federal Public Property Register records the titles of ownership and

possession of properties belonging to the Federal Government, together with

the decrees incorporating or releasing certain properties from public dominion. 

Other Registers4) Special registers exist for other types of property (assets), such as the

National Public Maritime Register, which lists the matriculations of Mexican

naval vessels and artifacts; the Mexican Aeronautical Register, which records

the documents by means of which Mexican civil aircraft are acquired,

transferred or encumbered and the matriculation certificates: the Industrial

Property Institute in which patents, trademarks and trade names are entered;

and the Public Copyright Register, for recording copyrights. 

5) There are also Registers of Persons, such as the Merchants' Register (not

very common), and the register for associations and corporations. The Public

Register for Commerce lists business associations (the most common being

the stock company). The most important information regarding corporations is

noted, such as name, domicile, purpose and by whom it is represented.

Right of way: normative frameThe legal frame for the Right of way is conformed by the following laws:

Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos

Artículos 25, 27, 73, 115, 121

Ley del Equilibrio Ecológico y Protección al Ambiente

General de Aguas Nacionales

Ley de Desarrollo Sustentable

Artículos 2, 3, 6, 9, 13

Ley Federal de las Paraestatales

Artículos 1, 11, 46, 58

Ley de la Comisión Reguladora de Energía

Ley General de Desarrollo Forestal Sustentable

Ley Orgánica de Petróleos Mexicanos y Organismos Subsidiarios.

Ley General para la Prevención y Gestión Integral de los Residuos

Ley del Servicio de Energía Eléctrica

NORMAS OFICIALES MEXICANAS

Ley General para la Prevención y Gestión Integral de los Residuos

Código Penal Federal.Códigos civiles federal y estatales

Programa Nacional de Medio Ambiente

Plan Nacional de Desarrollo.

Right of way: normative frame (Cont.)

Comparative normativity:Concept Main law for R/W Exploitation regime

Participation in profits of land owners 

Mexico Regulatory law of Article 27  Exclusive for the SateNone. They´ve got a

unique payment 

Venezuela Organic law of hydrocarbonsMay be transferred by state to

particular. The states charges rights equivalent to 30% as royalties 

 Long term rent contract; considered as an

associated

US Organic Law of energy Dept.

The State regulates and promotes the interstate commerce of oil.

Government  awards concessions to particulars to exploit oil and charges

rights as royalties

Long term rent contract; considered as an

associated 

Norway Proposal Nr 43 for energy actsState awards concessions to

particulars to exploit oil and charges rights as royalties

 Long term rent contract; considered as an

associated

Arab Emirates

Supreme Council of Petroleum

 Council issues rules so that private companies can have the right to

explore an exploit hydrocarbons and charges rights as royalties

 Long term rent contract; considered as an

associated

Article 27 This article states that the property of all land and water within national territory

is originally owned by the Nation, who has the right to transfer this ownership to

particulars. Hence, private property is a privilege created by the Nation.

Expropriations may only be made when there is a public utility cause.

The State will always have the right to impose on private property constraints

dictated by "public interest". The State will also regulate the exploitation of

natural resources based on social benefits and the equal distribution of wealth.

The state is also responsible for conservation and ecological considerations.

All natural resources in national territory are property of the nation, and private

exploitation may only be carried out through concessions.

Acquisition of land for right of way

The constitution of a right of way involves:

• Acquisition of lots

• …from several owners

• …different uses

To develop an specific type of infrastructure

Ways of acquisition

• Easements

• Superficial occupation

• Buy

• Expropriation

Superficial occupation

• Permanent installations of infrastructure built on or

under surface of land

• Defined time length agreed with the owner. In case

of social land the time can not be longer than 30

years.

• Does not allow the use of the land by the owner.

• Ownership is not transferred.

Buy

• Normal buy-sell operation

• Mainly used for roads deployment

Expropriation (condemnation)Expropriation in Mexico is ruled by two laws::

• Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution

• Expropriation Law

This legal frame is applicable to every expropriation, regardless the end use of

the Expropriated good nor the type of ownership, including private and social

owned land (Ejidos)

The following chart shows some of the important differences found between

private and social owned land:

Expropriation

CONCEPT SOCIAL LAND PRIVATE PROPERTY

PetitionerSecretaría de la Reforma Agraria,

as requested by interested institution

Ministry of the interested institution

NegotiationLeaders or representatives of the

communityOne to one

Options other than expropriation

Only in case the land has been converted into private. The first sale

is still considered as social landBuy

Main requirement for the technical file for condemnation

To probe that all negotiation instances were used.

To probe that the lot is specifically ideal for the proposed usage and to

public service. 

To probe that all negotiation instances were used.

To probe that the lot is specifically ideal for the proposed usage and to public service.

Expropriation

CONCEPT SOCIAL LAND PRIVATE PROPERTY

Most common source of inconformity

Value of the land Value of the land

Most common source of attack to the process

Value of the landSuitability

Value of the land

Usual time length to get the public usefulness

decreeOne year One – three years

Usual time length if a writ of amparo is held

 two – five additional years two – five additional years

Most common inconformity when the

expropriation is executedPayment terms Payment terms

Public usefulness declarationIn order to start an expropriation process there should be a public

usefulness declaration.

• This declaration must follow the steps shown in the chart below:• Application together with technical report and project affectations

report. It must describe every single lot

• Public information (20 days for allegations)

• Allegations (15 days for applicant to accept or rebate)

• Reports to other public organisms (20 days report, 15 days to rebate report and 15 days to respond rebates

• Resolution: about 6 months after application

• Administrative and Contentious resources

RIGHT OF WAY ACQUISITION PROCESS

PROPERTY RECORDS RESEARCH

EJIDO REVIEW OF OWNERSHIP STATUS

LAND USAGE PERMITS

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

MASTER APPRAISAL

COST – BENEFIT STUDY

EXECUTIVE PROJECT

PRELIMINARY PROJECTS AND SITE

SELECTION

BUDGET NEGOTIATION

NEGOTIATION FIRST ROUND

OPPORTUNITY VALUE

NEGOTIATION 2ND ROUND

ACQUISITION OF RIGHT OF WAY

ACCEPTEDNO ACCEPTED

ACCEPTED

COMISION FEDERAL DE ELECTRICIDAD (CFE)

The CFE electricity

transmission and

distribution network is

formed by more than

770.4 thousands of

kilometers for different

powers:

PEMEX

Petróleos Mexicanos (trademarked and better known as Pemex,

Mexican Petroleum) is the Mexican state-owned petroleum company.

Its operation is done throughout four subsidiaries:

• Pemex Exploración y Producción –PEP-(exploration and

production)

• Pemex Refinación (Oil Refinery)

• Pemex Gas y Petroquímica Básica (Gas and basic petro chemistry)

• Pemex Petroquímica (Petro chemicals)

PEP

Their main activities are oil and natural gas exploration and

exploitation; conveyance, storage in terminals and first

hand commercialization; these are carried out daily in four

geographic regions comprising the total Mexican territory:

North, South, Northeast Offshore and Southeast Offshore.

Worldwide speaking PEP has the third place on crude

production, the first in offshore hydrocarbons production,

the ninth in crude reserves and the twelfth in incomes.

PEP infrastructure

Pemex Refinación

Pemex Refinación (Pemex-Refining) is a

Pemex's subsidiary which processes,

transports and markets a wide range of

products derived from crude oil, including

gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, fuel oil, asphalts,

LPG, lubricants and other refined oil products.

Pemex Refinación infrastructure

Pemex Gas y Petroquímica Básica

Pemex Gas y Petroquímica Básica (Pemex) is

Pemex’s subsidiary which processes, transports and

commercializes natural gas, liquid hydrocarbons (such

as liquefied petroleum gas or LPG) and basic

petrochemical products, such as ethane, natural

gasoline and sulphur. Likewise, Pemex Gas offers its

industrial clients several services, among them the

hedge prices of natural gas.

Pemex Gas infrastructure

Pemex Petroquimica

PEMEX Petrochemicals, produces, commercializes, and

distributes High, and Low Lineal Density Polyethylene, Ethylene

Oxide, Glycol, Vinyl Chloride, Ethylene, Ammonia, Methanol,

Styrene, Benzene, Toluene, Xylem, Para xylene, Propylene,

Orthoxylene and Acrylonitrile to satisfy the demand in the

national market and a part of the international market. Their main

activity are petrochemical non basic processes, derived from the

first transformation of PEMEX Natural Gas, Methane, Propane

and Naphtha

Pemex Petrochemicals infrastructure

Ducts infrastructureThe overall length of ducts amounts to more than 41 thousand

kilometers, having Refining and Gas almost 70% of it.

SUBSIDIARY TYPE LENGTH (km)PEMEX EXPLORACIÓN Y PRODUCCIÓN

OIL 4,852GAS 7,656

PEMEX REFINACIÓN OIL 5,213POLY DUCT 8,958

PEMEX GAS GAS 10,307PRODUCTS 3,659

PEMEX PETROQUÍMICA 742TOTAL 41,387

SECRETARÍA DE COMUNICACIONES Y TRANSPORTES

The Ministry of Communications and

Transportation (SCT) is in charge of highway

infrastructure, transportation (road, aerial,

maritime, train) and communications.

Road infrastructure

CONAGUA (NATIONAL WATER COMMISSION)

Water in Mexico is considered a national asset. Water

administration corresponds to the President of Mexico, who

delegates it to the National Water Commission. The National Water

Commission (CONAGUA) is an administrative, normative,

technical, consultative and decentralized agency of the Ministry of

the Environment and Natural in charge of:

a) Administration of the National Waters.

b) Management and control of the hydrologic system.

c) Promotion of social development in water related issues.

MAIN AQUEDUCTS BY HYDROLOGIC REGION

NO AQUEDUCT HYDROLOGIC REGION LENGTH (KM)

CAPACITY (L/S)

YEAR OF COMMISSION

ING SUPPLIES TO

1 Río Colorado-Tijuana

I Península de Baja California 130 4,000 1982 Ciudades de Tijuana y Tecate y al poblado La

Rumorosa en Baja California.

2 Vizcaíno-Pacífico Norte

I Península de Baja California 206 62 1990

Localidades de Bahía Asunción, Bahía Tortugas y poblados pesqueros de Punta

Abreojos en Baja California.

3 SistemaCutzamala IV Balsas 162 19,000 1993

La Zona Metropolitana de la Ciudad de México con agua de las presas Valle de Bravo,

Villa Victoria y El Bosque, entre otras.

4 SistemaCutzamala

XIII Aguas del Valle de México 162 19,000 1993

La Zona Metropolitana de la Ciudad de México con agua de las presas Valle de Bravo,

Villa Victoria y El Bosque, entre otras.

5 LinaresMonterrey VI Río Bravo 133 5,000 1984

Al área Metropolitana de la ciudad de Monterrey, N.L., con agua de la presa Cerro

Prieto.

6 El Cuchillo-Monterrey VI Río Bravo 91 5,000 1994

Al área metropolitana de la ciudad de Monterrey con agua proveniente de la presa

el Cuchillo.

Aqueducts length accounts for more than 3 thousand kilometers with an overall capacity

of more than 112 cubic meters per second. Main aqueducts and their lengths are:

MAIN AQUEDUCTS BY HYDROLOGIC REGION

NO AQUEDUCT HYDROLOGIC REGION LENGTH (KM)

CAPACITY (L/S)

YEAR OF COMMISSIONING SUPPLIES TO

7 Lerma VIII Lerma Santiago Pacífico 60 14,000 1975 Ciudad de México con agua de los acuíferos

localizados en la zona alta del Río Lerma.

8 Lerma XIII Aguas del Valle de México 60 14,000 1975 Ciudad de México con agua de los acuíferos

localizados en la zona alta del Río Lerma.9 Armería-

ManzanilloVIII Lerma Santiago Pacífico

50 250 1987 Ciudad de Manzanillo, Colima.

10 Chapala-Guadalajara

VIII Lerma Santiago Pacífico

42 7,500 1991 La zona metropolitana de la ciudad de Guadalajara con agua del Lago de Chapala.

11 Presa VicenteGuerrero-

Ciudad Victoria

IX Golfo Norte 54 1,000 1992 Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas con agua proveniente de la presa Vicente Guerrero.

12 Uxpanapa-La Cangrejera

X Golfo Centro 40 20,000 1985 22 industrias ubicadas en la parte sur del estado de Veracruz.

13 Yurivia-Coatzacoalcos y

Minatitlán

X Golfo Centro 64 2,000 1987 Ciudades de Coatzacoalcos y Minatitlán, Ver. con agua del Río Ocotal y Tizizapa.

14 Río Huitzilapan-Xalapa

X Golfo Centro 55 1,000 2000 Ciudad de Xalapa de Enríquez, Ver.

15 Chicbul-Ciudaddel Carmen

XII Península de Yucatán

122 390 1975 Localidades de Sabancuy, Isla Aguada y Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche.

16 Conejos-Médanos VI Río Bravo 25 1,000 2009 Ciudad Juárez, Chih.

Dynamic of right of way

To understand the challenges associated to the acquisition

of right of way in Latin America first of all it is necessary to

recognize that the idiosyncrasy is determined by huge

social, economic, cultural and normativity diversities

Some statistics of the region are:

• Life expectance 57.2 to 81.1 years

• Mortality index: 4.2 to 9.1 / 1000

• Hospital beds: 0.7% to 8.4%

• Illiteracy index: 1.6% to 43% (Population with 15 years or more)

• Education expenses (% GDP): 1% to 9.8%

• Electric power consumption / inhabitant: 82 to 4,558 kw/h

Dynamic of right of way

Main players

Currently the main players are still the

government ministries and institutions, being

private investment mainly in projects for

roads and gas.

Main players

In terms of kind of land acquisition the

projects are:Type of project Buy Expropriation Superficial

ocupation Easements Usufruct

Roads X X

Electricity X X X X X

Oil and gas X X X X X

Water X X X X X

Other playersStarting in 1995 private investment is permitted for

projects involving right of way. Among them it are

worth mentioning:Sector Type of projects # of concessions

ElectricityGeneration for self consumption, renewable energy

More than 500

Gas and basic petrochemicals

Transport, storage and distribution of gas and petrochemicals

27 for transport

WaterAqueducts; currently two important projects on going. One in Jalisco awarded to Abengoa, a spaniel corporation and one in Veracruz.

2

Oil, oil derivativesOutsourcing contracts for the construction of ducts; ROW design, engineering by Pemex.

1

• Legislations at different stages.

• Legislations with different levels of actualization.

• Disperse or no systemized legislation.

• Legislative multiplicity at different levels of

government: federal, state, municipality.

• Susceptible to political influences.

Dynamic of right of way

Communities• Communities do not trust authorities nor companies.

• Information regarding ducts are scarce and previous bad experiences with similar projects.

• Negotiation process with frequent delays and unachieved. Payments were not fulfilled.

• Concern about safety of the community for the duct and potential accidents.

• Perception of big impact to community life and structure versus scarce direct benefits; this results in demands of better compensations.

• Politicization of projects resulting in significant community division (pro and against the project)

• Geographic disperse communities and towns

Communities

• Activism is present in projects

Ownership

• Excessive division of land. Too many owners and

negotiations.

• Land tenure frequently associated to a social justice sense.

• Frequent cases of irregular occupation of land, including

invading, irregular possession, judicial embargoes, etcetera.

• Lack of legislation and special judicial procedures to warrant

implementation of agreements and judicial resolutions.

• External activism.

Negotiation

To analyze the negotiation process it is very

important to highlight the fact that up-to-date it is a

very asymmetric practice, since the owners of the

land area are mostly passive players who are

affected by other decisions, being social activism a

resource to be considered by them.

NegotiationOnce the fact that their land is going to be a right of way for a project is

accepted, it comes out the issue of the value that is offered to them.

The normativity issued by the National Institute for Administration and

Appraisals for National Goods, Indaabin, states that the appraisal must

consider the soil usage considering the parcel as it is before the infrastructure

project, but it also states that the appraisal must consider the highest and best

use. These two statements might be the clue to understand the source of so

many conflicts derived from the land value in negotiations.

A possible source of conflicts in expropriation processes is that Indaabin is the

only institution that can issue appraisals, what might be considered a interest

conflict, since this institute is part of the Federal Government.

NegotiationHere we consider worth explaining a very important difference between

the Mexico procedures for acquisition of right of way and those from the

US:

• Right of way include only the land that will be conforming the right of

way, this means that there are no excess properties that should be

resold.

As a result of this criteria the parcels end somehow mutilated and

with limitations to be exploited with the usual business.

This consideration is true for all of the acquisition alternatives

mentioned above.

NegotiationROW acquisition operations are quiet the same than those in other countries,

but there are differences that are worth highlighting:

• During negotiations there are important players that are very focused

community negotiations known as lobbyist, who are in charge of specific

research in the target area to identify conflictive communities, on going

judicial procedures, political trends in the municipalities in the track.

• Contracts, administrative permits, legal critical path are very specific as

result of the huge differences in normativity requires law consulting services

that are highly specialized

HISTORY CASES INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

IN MEXICO

IRWA Conference, June 23rd/25th,

La Yesca Dam

La Yesca is one of the largest dams in Latin-America and it is part of

Hydroelectrical National system

“La Yesca”

Localization

Land acquisitionNegotiations were conducted on a one-on-one basis. When the acquisition were in

xxx % there was an stagnation in negotiations mainly due budget exhaustion and

both sides expectations: according to master appraisal CFE was paying too high

and the owners thought that they were not being paid on a fair basis.

We want to highlight the negotiating position of owners, since the negotiations were

for buying their land they felt no need to sell having as result rising of expectations

of value.

Analysis of alternatives.Bringing into the analysis the owners negotiating position, the importance of those

specific parcels for the project (they were the land for the dam’s arch) several

alternatives were considered assessing social, economical and political impacts, as

well as threats for the projects to evaluate the advisability of an opportunity value

payment.

Next char shows the different options that were analyzed. These options result from

the normativity accepted by CFE

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Direct cost of project commissioning on timeLosses due to delay in commissioning and selling electricity are obviously increased directly

related to project delay. Next charts show annual losses and also the amount that should be

paid if any option is selected:

CONCEPT AMOUNT UNITSUnitary price (Kw-h) 953.27 $/KWh

Installed capacity at projects end 750.0 MW

Billable operating hours 5,922.07 hoursBillable capacity 4,441,553.24 MWh

Billable amount 4,234.0 Millons Pesos

Other expenses (/factor) (As % of overall sales)

Direct cost and expenses (operation)

Operation 3,181.1 75.1%Depreciation 451.5 10.7%

Administrative expenses 93.7 2.2%

Total 3,726.4 88.0%

Benefit 507.7 12.0%

Annual cost(millions pesos)

Years Amount

Opportunity value payment 507.7 0 0.0

Expropriation 507.7 2 1,015.4

Change the site 507.7 3 1,523.1

Patrimonial damage to CFEDamages to CFE patrimony estimated assuming that several parts of the project should be remade.

Next chart summarizes these costs:

ConceptTotal Estudios

sociales y ambientales

Costo de ingeniería

Proceso de licitación Costo Total

Pago de Valor de oportunidad - - - -

Expropiación - - 15,000,000 15,000,000

Cambio de sitio 26,875,500 107,216,000 15,000,000 149,091,500

DelayIn any option in which a delay in project execution the possibility exists that negotiations are

longer and that owners pretensions become higher:

Opportunity Value amount Land value 22,228,241.90

Other goods than land 8,786,927.30

Total: 31,015,169.20Asked by owners 54,100,000.00

Opportunity value: 23,084,830.80

LOSSES DUE TO DELAY IN

SALES PATROMONY DAMAGE TO CFE TOTAL

(millions pesos) (millions pesos) (millions pesos)

Opportuniy value 0 0 23.1

Expropriation 1,015.40 15 1,030.4

Change the site 1,523.10 149.1 1,672.2

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International Mexico City Airport, AICM.

April 2001 newspapers in Mexico City published the decision to build a new airport for Mexico

City in the area where it used to be the Texcoco Lake. Overall area is 5,500 ha (11,000 acres)

form which two thousand would be for the airport and the rest for remediation and ecological

protection areas. The investment was estimated in 3 thousand millon dollars.

This project was affecting 15 ejidos in the municipalities of Texcoco and San Salvador Atenco

in the State of Mexico and 4 thousand ejidatarios that owned that land and 2 thousand

possessors of land considered to be non-urbanizable. The land was for agricultural uses,

being 900 has irrigated.

AICM.

AICM.

TEXCOCO

ATENCO

CHIMALHUACÁN

AICM.

NUCLEO AGRARIO

NUMERO DE EJIDATARIOS

RECONOCIDOS EN ADATE-PROCEDE

NUMERO DE POSESIONARIOS EN LA

ADATE-PROCEDE

SUPERFICIE PROMEDIO POR EJIDATARIO Y

POSESIONARIO (HA.)(1)

SAN FRANCISCO ACUEXCOMAC 329 0 0.83

COL. FRANCISCO I MADERO 111 120 1.47

SAN LUIS HUEXOTLA 195 7 1.21

SAN CRISTOBAL NEXQUIPAYAC 350 51 2.31

SAN BERNARDINO 210 0 1.73

SANTA ISABEL IXTAPAN 330 303 2.54

SAN MARTIN NEZAHUALCOYOLT 73 5 3.69

TOCUILA Y SUS BARRIOS 499 0 1.76

SAN SALVADOR ATENCO 489 619 1.12

SANTIAGO CUAUTLALPAN 210 0 1.39

S. FELIPE Y STA. CRUZ DE ABAJO (2) 140 N.D. 3.01

SANTA MARIA CHIMALHUACAN 650 871 0.83

LA MAGDALENA PANOAYA 373 119 0.81

TOTALES 3,959 2,095

AICM.AGRICULTURAL STATUS

* Agricultural use land, some of it with scarce vegetation.

* Flat topography, with water levels that allow litlle lagoons with plants which tolerate excess

of water.

* Scarce vegetation areas formed by grass somehow resitent to salinity.

* Land unuseful for rain irrigated agriculture because of low yields.

THESE LANDS ARE UNUSEFUL FOR AGRICULTURE AND ARE VERY LIMITED FOR

CATTLE BREEDING

AICM.October 2002 the governmental institution in charge of appraisals (CABIN) issued and

appraisal to estimated the amount of payments starting from a commercial agricultural value

of 7.2$/m2 for rain irrigated land and 25$/m2 for irrigated land, even though ate the

peripheries of the Texcoco Lake there was offer of land for residential uses in the range of

15.00- 50.00 $/m2.

In terms of land acquisition impact in the whole project it represented 2% of the investment,

and if the expectations of ejida land owners were flfilled it had been 8%.

AICM.When expropriation decrees were published it was formed and organization opposing to it. It

was named “Movimiento en Defensa de la Tierra”- land defense movilization, als known as

“los Macheteros de Atenco” – Atenco´s machete men. This group made front with some

violence to the government of the State of Mexico.

The following days there were statements from different government offices and levels

taking hands off the conflict. Some days after, the Minister of Agrarian Reform stated that

low prices estimated were issued by CABIN, whose president stated that they were qualified

by law to estimate the value, but it corresponded to the Government Ministry to conclude

with the price.

Two days later the project was cancelled , but it is still undecided where the new airport is

going to be.

Conclusions

• Acquisition of right of way is considered to be a very

important milestone in the development of a project.

• The planning of the projects must consider the

social factor as a very important issue.

• Work with communities at the early stages of the

project is advised

Conclusions• The value of the land is the most common source of conflicts

during negotiation, since owners suffer different affectations:

– They must sell in a compulsory way part of their parcel.

– The rest of the parcel is mutilated and the usual activities must be

adjusted.

– The value usually does not reflex the new situation of the property

that would be the usage as part of the right of way.

– Owners are always an affected part which is out of the business

and not and associated with whom right of way operators make

• There is an importan opportunity in the

ROW industry, since the rules changing

now allow private investors to take part of

the industry.

Contact:

Guillermo Manning: gmanning@rdabogados.com.mx)

Carlos Sandoval Miranda carlossandovalmiranda@yahoo.com

Jesus Sandoval Sevilla: jesus.sandoval@caltia.mx