(The following story by Cesar Neyoy appeared on the Yuma Sun website on September 5.)
YUMA, Calif. — Next August, Yuma County may know how it figures into a plan to link the United States by rail with a planned deep-water shipping port on the Baja California coast.
The Mexican government says it will announce which consortium of companies among a field of bidders will be picked to build and operate the Punta Colonet Port, south of Ensenada, as well as the route of the railroad from the port to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Yuma could be on the route, depending on which bidder wins and where it chooses to route the line.
In 2007, the project sparked controversy in Yuma when Union Pacific, at that time considered a front-runner in the bidding process, planned to route the rail line through Yuma County. Opponents feared it would disrupt farming and roads and cause pollution.
Union Pacific announced later in the year that it was withdrawing from the bidding process, but a railroad spokesman said recently that it may reconsider.
“The winning bidder will be the one to decide the railroad route most convenient for the project,” said Jose Rubio, executive coordinator for the Punta Colonet project. “We know that in Yuma there was a very legitimate pronouncement against the railroad going through there, but now there will have to be more assertive communication there, or in any of the (locations) the winner selects as a crossing point to the United States.”
Late last month during a visit to Ensenada, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced the opening of the bidding on the project.
The Mexican government anticipates the $5 billion port would go into operation in 2012. The rail line would travel 250 miles from the port to the Yuma area under one of four proposals disclosed the Mexico’s Ministry of Communications and Transportation. That proposal did not specify where in the Yuma area the rail line would be located.
Other proposals have the route going through Nogales, Son.; Mexicali, Baja Calif.; and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, some 650 miles away from the port.
Rubio said the central responsibility of the Baja California government had been to rescue the process so the project would advance to bidding:
“We found the level of competitiveness so this would go forward, and now the cities and the governments that are going to benefit will have to show that same level.”
Rubio sought to downplay environmental concerns related to the railroad.
The project “will bring opportunities to both countries and it will be done respecting the environment, and in a way so as to cause the least harm to the communities,” he said.
Luis A. Heredia, a Union Pacific spokesman, said the railroad is reviewing the bidding conditions and is considering participation in the bidding process.
The Mexican government would lease the port and railroad operations to the winning bidders for 45 years.
The port would handle shipping from counties such as China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand and India. Mexican officials predict the volume of cargo it would handle would exceed that for the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.