President Andrés Manuel López Obrador denied that the agreement by which priority projects and works will have provisional permits and will be classified as national security, is to hide information, but to expedite procedures.
“It has nothing to do with transparency, the secretariats, we are all held accountable,” the president added.
He assured that in his administration they have “the conviction to act with honesty, zero corruption and also zero impunity.”
During the press conference on Tuesday, he pointed out that the decree – published on Monday, November 22 in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) – aims to streamline procedures so that priority works are not stopped and make them “more expeditious”.
“On the understanding that companies, federal government agencies are governed by principles of environmental protection, justice, honesty; and that you have to give it facilities, you have to have confidence in the dependencies”.
López Obrador said that it is an internal matter, so that the dependencies help each other to move forward with ongoing projects, “because we have to move forward, we have to finish, conclude the works”.
The decree published on Monday orders the agencies to grant the necessary permits to start the projects or works that are considered a priority for the government, to “guarantee their timely execution, the expected social benefit and the exercise of the authorized budgets.”
According to the agreement itself, the projects can be associated with infrastructure in communications, telecommunications, customs; borders, hydraulic, water, environment; tourism, health, railways, railways, as well as energy, ports, airports.
Also “those that, due to their object, characteristics, nature, complexity and magnitude, are considered priorities and / or strategic for national development”.
Through a statement, the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI) reported that its specialized areas study the scope of the agreement and, if necessary, explore the different legal avenues to ensure that society’s right of access to information is guaranteed, without restriction.
It points out that when considering the works of “national security” the dependencies and entities of the Federal Public Administration can come to reserve, in a general way, the information related to the projects and works that the government carries out.
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