Mexico will postpone construction of its planned Punta Colonet port project on the Pacific Coast, and may scrap the project entirely, for lack of financing, according to a Bloomberg report.

The project was the biggest portion of President Felipe Calderon’s pledge to spend 570 billion pesos (US$41.2 billion) in public and private money on infrastructure projects in Mexico through 2012, the report said.

Mexico Law Blog previously reported on the project, the most detailed of which are available here and here.

Cemex, S.A.B. (NYSE: CX), the world’s third largest cement maker, has hired five international financial institutions to help it obtain new credit lines and negotiate amendments to its existing credit facilities, according to a Sentido Comun report. 

The banks retained are Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), HSBC, RBD and Banco Santander. 

The announcment forms part of the company’s efforts to extend the maturity dates on its credit lines and buy time to restructure its operations as revenues decrease amid a possible global recession.  Cemex is also hoping to exchange approximately US$429 million in peso denominated bonds that mature in the next few months for bonds that mature in September 2011.

Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (Asur), S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: ASR) has acquired approximately 321 acres of land in Huatulco Bay, Oaxaca state, for approximately US$21.6 million, according to a report in Business News Americas (BNA).

Asur acquired the land on October 20, 2008 from Mexico’s National Trust for Tourism Development (FONATUR).  The Mexican government has sought to make Huatulco a new pacific coast tourist hub.

The terms of the acquisition require Asur to build 1,300 hotel rooms on the property over a four-year period, the BNA report said.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon and the National Trust for Tourism Development (FONATUR) have announced the development of a major tourism infrastructure project to be located in the southern part of the Sinaloa State, according to an article at mexicorealestateinvestment.org.

The development plans include four golf courses, two marinas, 44,200 hotel rooms, a five-mile beachfront boardwalk, a light rail, and possibly a new airport.  Work is scheduled to begin in 2009 and to be completed by 2025, the article said.

The U.S. Commercial Service has released a report targeted to U.S. businesses on the Punta Colonet port development project.  A copy is available here. 

Mexico Law Blog has also written several posts on the proposed project, which include a link to the official call for bids.

The bidding for a concession to construct and operate a new airport to be located near the coastal hamlet of Tulum, Quintana Roo, is expected to open before October 31, 2008, according to a Ministry of Communications and Transportation (Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes) official who was quoted in a report in today’s El Financiero. 

The report said that the airport will be capable of handling 3 million passengers annually and the concession will be awarded to the company that offers lowest construction and operational costs.  The government is expected to announce the winner of the concession in 2009.  Construction should be completed by 2012.

Companies expected to submit bids include Mexico’s three major airport operators (which were created in 2005 upon the privatization of the airport management entity): Aeropuertos del Sureste de Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V. (ASUR), Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, S.A.B. de C.V. (PAC), and Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte, S.A. de C.V. (OMAB).

Tulum, located in the southern portion of the Mayan Riviera, is home to significant Mayan ruins.

The Diario Oficial de la Federacion (Official Federal Daily) today issued the official call for bids for the Punta Colonet port development project, a copy of which is available here.

The concessions to be granted simultaneously pursuant to the call for bids are:

A concession for the construction, operation and expoitation of a general rail communication line that includes routes originating at Colonet Bay, Ensenada, Baja California with one or two destination points at the U.S.-Mexico border and the provision of public rail cargo service and the permits to provide services relating to such routes;

A concession for management of the port and for the exploitation, use and enjoyment of public property of the federal government that forms part of the port area located in Colonet Bay, Ensenda, Baja California; and

A concession for the exploitation, use and enjoyment of public property of the federal government in the port area located in Colonet Bay, Ensenda, Baja California, and the construction, operation and exploitation of a public use commercial container terminal and the provision of related port services.  

Important dates for prospective bidders are September 8, 2008, which is the deadline for requesting admission to the bid orientation meeting, and October 2, 2008, which is the deadline to request paperwork for registration of interested bidders. 

Additional information on the Punta Colonet port development is available in Mexico Law Blog posts dated August 28, 2008 and July 31, 2008.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States announced on August 27, 2008 that it had approved a US$80 million medium-term credit guarantee facility to provide financing for up to 85% of purchases of equipment and services by Mexico’s national electricity provider, the Federal Electricity Commission (Comision Federal de Electricidad  - CFE), from to be selected U.S. suppliers. 

The guarantee provides a great opportunity to U.S. exporters of electric plant equipment and services, which may wish to take a sales trip to Mexico to visit CFE officials and market their wares and services as soon as possible.

More information about the Ex-Im guaranty to the CFE and how it benefits U.S. exporters is available here.

Mexican President Felipe Calderón officially announced the bidding for the Punta Colonet multimodal project today, according to a Ministry of Communications and Transportation (Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes) press release.  The project will be located about 86 miles south of Ensenada, Baja California.

The project includes the construction of new port facilities, container terminals, a desalination plant, highway improvements, and 186 miles of rail lines, which will link Punta Colonet to the United States.  According to a report in today’s El Financiero, possible rail routes may run through Mexicali, Yuma, Nogales, or El Paso, but the bid terms will allow the concession winner to determine the route.  Once completed, the port is expected to double Mexico’s capacity for the handling of shipping containers to six milliion containers per year. 

The report said that the Punta Colonet port will be situated on approximately 6,700 acres, 205 of which are public lands owned by the government and 6,425 of which are territorial sea beds.  The precise boundaries of the project are set forth in the Official Federal Daily (Diario Oficial de la Federación) dated December 18, 2006.

Construction and operation of the project is expected to generate 83,000 jobs, 24,000 during construction and 59,000 during operation, and US$500 million in annual revenue.  Work is anticipated to commence in 2009 end by 2013 or 2014. 

Bid terms will be published next week, with Mexican development bank Banobras serving as bidding agent.

The report said the government also plans to allow construction of a new airport in Mesa de Tigre, Ensenada, with cargo capabilities to serve Punta Colonet. The airport will require private investment of approximately US$224 million.

The call for bids for the Punta Colonet project has been delayed several times due to the project’s complexity and land disputes with mining company Grupo Minero Lobos (GML), which had a concession to develop approximately 74,000 acres of coastline for mining projects, according to a report in Business News Americas (BNA).  Although the government revoked GML’s concession on July 18, 2007, the revocation has not been published in the Official Federal Daily, as required by Mexican law to consummate official invalidation of a concession, according to the BNA report.  The BNA report said GML still claims rights to the land.

As Mexico Law Blog reported on July 31, 2008, companies expected to submit bids for the Punto Colonet concessions include A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, Dubai Ports World, Ferromex, Hutchison Port Holdings, MTC Holdings, Pacer Stacktrain México, and Union Pacific México.  The bidding companies will likely form consortiums, given the project’s magnitude.

Empresas ICA, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: ICA) announced that it won two construction contracts worth a total of approximately US$63.1 million, according to a Bloomberg report today.  The report said the contracts are to build a convention center in central Mexico and renovate a runway at Mexico City’s airport. 

Empresas ICA is Mexico’s largest construction company and a major competitor of Carlos Slim’s Carso Infraestructura y Construccion, S.A.B. (CICSA).  It is headed by Chief Executive Officer Jose Luis Guerrero, who holds a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Empresas ICA was founded by a group of Mexican engineers in 1947 as Mexico boomed after World War II.  Some analysts have said that Empresas ICA’s long and successful track record in Mexican infrastructure give it an advantage over its less experienced competitors.  Keep an eye out for ICA as the Mexican government issues bid awards for infrastructure projects as part of its 2007-2012 National Infrastructure Program.