Morena Pushes 20-Year Mexico City Plan to a Vote by Dec. 15

Morena, the ruling party in the Congress of Mexico City, plans to pass the city’s General Development Plan (Plan General de Desarrollo, or PGD) before the regular session closes on Dec. 15. The plan will guide public policy for the city government and the alcaldías (borough governments) over the next 20 years, so the vote would set priorities on land, housing and services for two decades.

The opposition National Action Party (PAN) says the version sent by Mayor Clara Brugada never went through a public consultation and could be struck down in court, according to Almomento.mx.

A month to review a plan for 20 years

The document arrived at Congress this week and went to two committees: Development Planning, and Government and Public Policy. The law gives lawmakers six months to issue a ruling, but Morena’s caucus leader Xóchitl Bravo, who also chairs the Political Coordination Board (Junta de Coordinación Política), said the party will not use that time. She called the plan the city’s Christmas and New Year’s gift.

Leonor Gómez Otegui, the Morena lawmaker who chairs the Government and Public Policy committee, said there will be 10 working days of “open parliament” hearings running into early December. Party groups will hold their own forums at the same time. Lawmakers are also handling the budget, the Fair Rents Law (Ley de Rentas Justas), the Civic Culture Law and a batch of other bills before the session ends, with a little over 30 days left on the calendar.

What Morena says about the consultation

Ángel Tamariz, Morena’s spokesman in the city Congress, ruled out a new consultation. He said the public process ended in April, collected more than 600 thousand signatures and was followed by seven months of sorting through the proposals. “The consultation was already done,” he said, in remarks reported in Spanish.

Bravo also rejected claims that the plan opens the door to land seizures. She said the word “expropriation” does not appear anywhere in it and that the planned land bank will be built from plots held by the Housing Institute (Invi) and the city government. Tamariz said any doubtful wording can be adjusted when the committees draft their ruling.

What the PAN objects to

Olivia Garza, a PAN lawmaker who presides over the Congress’s governing board (Mesa Directiva) and chairs the Development Planning committee, said the document is new. In her account, the governing board of the Planning Institute approved it without putting it to residents, and people who took part in the consultation cannot tell from the annexes what happened to their proposals or why they were accepted or rejected.

She also said the diagnosis relies on data six and seven years old. Page 227 uses 2019 figures on available land, and the plan takes the 2020 Census to count 207 thousand vacant homes, even though the national statistics agency (Inegi) released its 2025 Intercensal Survey in September. Garza added that the plan does not say how much money it needs to start in 2027 and that its land acquisition policy lacks clear rules.

“They can approve it with their majority,” Garza said, but warned that this does not make the plan legally secure. She called the push to approve it this year irresponsible. PAN caucus leader Andrés Atayde said that, as written, his party cannot support it.

What it means for residents

The PGD sets the long-term direction that city and borough policies must follow, including how the government acquires land and plans for housing. If Morena uses its majority to pass the plan in December and the PAN follows through on a legal challenge, a court could end up ruling on whether the consultation was valid, which would leave the plan’s standing uncertain.

Next steps in Congress

The two committees have not reached agreement. Garza will propose a working session with the Planning Institute before the detailed review begins. Morena scheduled its own meeting for the following day with the institute, the Political Coordination Board and the chairs of both committees. Gómez Otegui said she sees no reason to drag out the ruling.

Source: Almomento.mx