Mexican President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador has announced that his government will cancel a partially built $13.3bn new airport for Mexico City.

The latest announcement follows a four-day public referendum launched by López Obrador to gauge public opinion about the construction of the airport.

During the referendum, the majority of the Mexican people voted down the project, which is nearly one-third complete.

They supported López Obrador’s plan to keep the existing airport and construct a terminal and two runways to a military base north of Mexico City.

“The decision to scrap the Mexico City Airport project has not gone down well with the country’s business leaders and investors.”

It is estimated that scrapping the project may cost approximately $5bn.

During his election campaign, López Obrador repeatedly criticised the airport project and alleged that the project is riddled with corruption and it would be expensive to maintain the new airport due to the geological complexity of the terrain.

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However, recently he promised to rope in business leaders to complete the new international airport at Mexico City at a lower cost.

However, the decision to scrap the Mexico City Airport project has not gone down well with the country’s business leaders and investors, who said the decision is a portentous sign of López Obrador’s incoming government’s respect to contracts.

It was estimated that the new airport would create up to 450,000 jobs while providing a new facility to decongest Mexico City’s ageing main airport.