Analysis of the economic and technical repercussions of the closure of material banks on San Juan Hill, in the cities of Tepic and Xalisco, in 2022

Abstract

On May 9, 2022, the Governor of Nayarit, Dr. Miguel Ángel Navarro Quintero, made the decision to close access to the banks of stone materials that had been exploited for more than 30 years on the San Juan Hill, in the municipalities of Tepic and Xalisco, Nayarit (Gobierno del Estado de Nayarit, 2022). After that, there were repercussions that have not yet been evaluated, among which we can include the following: Increase in the price of construction materials; Immediate lack of availability of gravel and sand in the region, which has been resolved with foreign banks; Rising prices of the construction market; Suspension of works in progress, which were subsequently completed (most of them), with the natural price increases; Difficulty in obtaining construction materials; Vandalization of material banks that were closed; Loss of labor and sources of employment, of the personnel of the material banks and of the works that were in process at the time; Substitution of materials for the manufacture of masonry pieces; Uncertainty of compliance with construction standards by the gravels and sands of the emerging banks, and of the uniformity of their characteristics; Sudden deterioration of the experience that concrete plants, builders, construction workers and casting crews had accumulated with the known aggregates of the now closed banks. To date, the policies that have been implemented or actions taken for the restoration process of the damage in the areas where there was material banks have not been made public, but the effects of the closures still continue.