Trees, birds, ponds: Mexico City's ancient lake reclaims scrapped airport

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Trees, birds, ponds: Mexico City's ancient lake reclaims scrapped airport

Officials let nature take over in their bid to transform an ancient lake into a giant park

Published: September 12, 2020 07:49 Reuters and compiled by Balaram Menon, Senior Web Editor

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Copy of 2020-09-07T194257Z_1730360791_RC2VTI95VML0_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881498203 — Bright green stalks of weeds are sprouting from the ground where planes were supposed to take off at a new Mexico City airport as officials let nature take over in their bid to transform the marshy swath of an ancient lake into a giant park. | Above: A general view shows parts of flight terminal on abandoned construction of the Mexico City airport that was scrapped two years ago is now flooded by summer rains, in Texcoco. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T194310Z_1908580639_RC2VTI9LR89L_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881503020 — The ghostly skeletons of a partly built control tower and flight terminal are recognizably in the style of Norman Foster, the British architect commissioned by Mexico's last president to build a futuristic international airport at a cost of some $13 billion on 4,800 hectares just east of the capital. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T194625Z_1167317243_RC2VTI96DCCN_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881512794 — Upon taking office in December 2018, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador axed the project, citing the results of an informal referendum, after arguing it would be costly to prevent sinking on the waterlogged soil. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T194309Z_1552111482_RC2VTI9N47S9_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881500454 — Instead of the slick design from Foster, whose award-winning glass and steel web-like buildings dot the globe, Lopez Obrador opted to expand an existing military airport. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T194245Z_614412614_RC2VTI9XBITX_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881493206 — The abandoned construction zone is now part of a project to conserve 12,200 hectares of marsh on what was once massive Lake Texcoco before Spanish colonizers in the 1600s began draining the water to prevent flooding in their burgeoning settlement. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T194320Z_526358883_RC2VTI917Y45_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881505831 — About half that area is slated for public use, including sports and events space - more than twice the size of New York's Central Park. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T194652Z_1343281011_RC2VTI9IUHLC_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881486628 — Architect I".O+/-aki Echeverria, who is overseeing the project, aims to open a portion of the park by March next year and offer full access by 2024. "The restoration began the moment the construction stopped. This shows nature's incredible resiliency," he said. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T210704Z_208704496_RC2XTI990EMQ_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881468149 — Officials point to recent flooding as proof that maintenance would have been difficult, and say less than 20% of construction was completed. They paid some 13 billion pesos ($603 million) to cancel more than 600 contracts left in limbo. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T205038Z_1282291885_RC2WTI9MFNNY_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881476564 — During a visit last week, a moat of green water had risen around a flying-saucer-like building where a control tower juts 20 meters (66 ft) high, less than a third of its intended height. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T210732Z_670489746_RC2XTI9EXDE9_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881471500 — Birds glided in a pond beneath columns of crisscrossing steel bars that were meant to become a terminal greeting some 70 million passengers a year. The steel will be sold as scrap. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T194627Z_1667636163_RC2VTI9B80TV_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881516499 — Conservation efforts in the area date to the 1970s, when the government grappled to contain dust storms that swept from the dry lake basin over Mexico City. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T194650Z_295001886_RC2VTI9FQOZ0_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881490603 — The current project has been hailed by Lopez Obrador as a "new Tenochtitlan," referring to the centuries-old Aztec capital built in the middle of a sprawling lake, where Mexico City is today. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T194624Z_2106005016_RC2VTI90PRAQ_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881509318 — Part of Echeverria's work is convincing city-dwellers that the wetlands are worth visiting. "People who think there's nothing there, don't know it well," he said. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T204728Z_1907123268_RC2WTI94PN8F_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881474352 — A general view shows parts of the structure of the flight terminal at an abandoned construction site of a Mexico City airport . Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T194731Z_1554820258_RC2VTI9ZMTSG_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881482034 — A general view shows part of the Lake Texcoco in an area near the canceled airport zone that is part a project to conserve 12,200 hectares of land in Texcoco. Image Credit: REUTERS

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Copy of 2020-09-07T194246Z_372070377_RC2VTI94HT1I_RTRMADP_3_MEXICO-AIRPORT-LAKE-1599881495887 — A general view shows parts of the structure of a control tower at an abandoned construction site of a Mexico City airport. Image Credit: REUTERS

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