Government prepares tender for development poles in Corredor del Istmo

In the coming weeks, probably in February, the first tenders will be launched to trigger the development poles that are planned in the Tehuantepec Isthmus Interoceanic Corridor (CIIT). “We hope that in each development pole investments will be generated that would be around 1,000 million dollars,” said Raquel Buenrostro Sánchez, Secretary of Economy.

The CIIT consists of a railway that will link the ports of Salina Cruz in Oaxaca and Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz, in addition to the modernization of both port recitals and some road sections that will be connected to the railway.

On the 300-kilometer route that joins these two populations, the birth of ten “development poles” will be promoted, which will have industrial parks and other facilities for the development of economic activities, in addition to the infrastructure to meet the needs of the community. population that would reside there.

“The idea is that in each pole there is a private concessionaire that commits an investment plan, with job creation goals and a vision of development in the short, medium and long term,” explained Buenrostro Sánchez.

An issue that remains to be defined is the type of tax incentives that could be offered to companies interested in investing and settling in the corridor. According to Raquel Buenrostro, there is a high probability that among the stimuli there will be resources from the US government, in addition to those that the Mexican government can grant and that must be defined by the Ministry of Finance.

“We have presented the logistics corridor project to the United States and they were very interested. Perhaps Gina Raimondo, the United States Secretary of Commerce, will join us at the official presentation,” she said.

Secretary Buenrostro made these statements in the context of a meeting with business columnists, in her office on the 23rd floor of the Ministry of Economy building, in CDMX. Various topics were discussed at the meeting, most of them related to the T-MEC.

CHIPS law, on the scene

The support of the United States to the logistics corridor could be given with resources from the Semiconductor Law (known in English as the CHIPS Act), which has 390,000 million dollars to relocate strategic industries, including the production of semiconductors.

“A part of those resources could be invested in Mexico. It makes sense to the United States because they have a sense of urgency in relocation and an issue that makes it difficult for them to quickly execute that relocation is the shortage of labor in their labor market. Taking that into consideration, Mexico is the best place to bring companies that are now in Asia,” said the Secretary of Economy.

And he added that “we have proposed to locate the investments in the South because the North of Mexico does not have enough water and, also, because it would allow us to attend to and solve other problems more related to migration and development in southern Mexico and Central America.” .

In addition to this, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced last year that it has a pool of resources of between 1,800 and 2,800 million dollars by 2025 to finance the relocation of companies to Mexico, a line in which it said, it will give priority to the projects that choose to establish themselves in the CIIT.

Logistical challenge to Panama

The logistics corridor is one of the emblematic infrastructure projects of the administration of President López Obrador, although it has not made the headlines of other works such as the Olmeca refinery, the Mayan Train or the AIFA. It updates something that was proposed for the first time in the time of Porfirio Díaz, to connect the Pacific Ocean with the Gulf of Mexico. In the first instance, it will mean a competition for the Panama Canal to serve vessels that carry merchandise from Asia to the East Coast of the United States; or from Europe to the West Coast of the United States.

The announcement by the Ministry of Economy implies a greater involvement of this agency in a project that the President has indicated will be led by the Ministry of the Navy (Semar). López Obrador has justified the participation of Semar as a guarantee that this corridor will not be privatized.

Energy and USMCA

How are the inquiries about the complaints from the US and Canada about aspects of Mexico’s energy policy going? This has been answered by the Mexican government through the SE:

Issue 1. The US and Canada object to giving preference to the CFE in electricity dispatch.

• Response: the US and Canadian authorities have been informed that the 2021 reforms to the Electricity Law are suspended because there are amparo lawsuits, so the law that is actually applied is that of 2014. Regarding the claim of that private generators are discriminated against, the situation is that there are technical problems when interconnecting renewable energy plants to the transmission and distribution networks, but work is already being done on the technical solution.

Topic 2. Delay in permits for energy projects.

• Response: The delay is due to the fact that various authorities in the sector suspended activities due to Covid-19, as occurred in other countries. Follow-up is being done to reduce the lag.

Topic 3. Extension to Pemex to commercialize diesel with high levels of sulfur.

• Answer: Pemex does not have the infrastructure to store hydrocarbons and produce only Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (DUBA). Work is being done on a proposed solution that is already known to the EU.

Topic 4. Sener Directive that obliges private parties to buy natural gas from Pemex and CFE.

• Response: The implementation of this guideline is suspended due to amparo proceedings. A solution was proposed that is being analyzed by the US.

lmgonzalez@eleconomista.mx