Mexico Government Preparing to Name Punta Colonet Contractors

It was reported on February 27 by an industry research company that Mexico's secretary of communications and transportation, Molinar Horcasitas, is now saying that the Punta Colonet mega-port project will shortly issue a new timetable. Business Monitor International (BMI) reports that the project will "go ahead" in September 2010, and that the prime contractors could include, among others: Mexican construction firm ICA; Hong Kong terminal operator Hutchison Port Holdings; Union Pacific and/or MTC.

The Punta Colonet project, about 240km south of San Diego, remains the flagship infrastructure project of the Felipe Calderón administration. The project was originally to cost about MXN50billion (US$3.82billion), with a completion date of 2020 and a capacity of 6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year. With the current global economic slump, Mexico has down-sized their plans somewhat, and announced it will build out the mega-port over a longer period of time. The community of Punta Colonet is projected to grow from its current population of 9,000 to 230,000 by 2040.

BMI estimated a very sharp fall in the Mexican economy in 2009, but says 2010 and subsequent years are now looking more encouraging. After a GDP decline of 7.1% in 2009, BMI has raised their projection for 2010 to +3.2% (was +0.8%), followed by +3.3% in 2011 (was +3.2%). The research company says the macro-economic environment will be more supportive for the freight industry in the five years starting in 2010. Even rosier U.S. West Coast import projections were posted on this blog earlier.

The full BMI report can be purchased here. Go here to learn how to make money buying and selling Punta Colonet domains.