Mexico wants Chinese firms for airport
Print Edition
MEXICO is trying to get Chinese state-run companies involved in the construction of a new US$11 billion airport as it seeks to make up for a tainted rail tender that soured relations with China, a source with knowledge of the government plan said.
Mexico said in September it would build the new Mexico City airport to relieve congestion and transform the capital into a major regional hub with six runways eventually serving 120 million passengers a year.
The airport is Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s flagship infrastructure project. The other, a high-speed train linking Mexico City with the city of Queretaro, was originally awarded to a consortium led by China Railway Construction Corp. But it was later put on ice indefinitely — a move that shocked Beijing, officials say.
Senior Mexican officials believe that China could be assuaged by involving some of its state-run companies in the airport construction, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous because he is not authorized to speak publicly.
“In some levels of (China’s) government there is deep disappointment and a deep lack of confidence toward Mexico,” the person said. “The ball is in our court, and we have to show willingness with new projects.”
CRCC had the US$3.75 billion rail deal revoked just days before it emerged that Pena Nieto’s wife had bought a luxury house from one of the Mexican firms in the winning consortium.
Subsequent media reports showed the president and his finance minister had also either bought or used homes from the same government contractor.
Mexico tendered the rail project again in January, and CRCC was widely expected to win. But a sharp drop in the price of oil, which funds a third of Mexico’s federal budget, forced the project to be suspended.
After CRCC lost out, a delegation led by Mexican transport and communications minister Gerardo Ruiz Esparza told Chinese officials during a trip to Beijing that Mexico would welcome Chinese involvement in the airport, the source said.
“This is kind of paying a favor to the Chinese companies who were denied the Mexico-Queretaro train,” said Daniel Avila, a senior member of the Mexican Senate’s Asia-Pacific committee.
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