http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20080725-9999-1m25colonet.html

Bid details expected soon for big port project

By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

July 25, 2008

TIJUANA – Mexico's federal government plans to publish bid specifications for the massive Punta Colonet container port and rail project south of Ensenada by the end of September, Luis Téllez, the country's secretary of transportation and communications, said yesterday.

“We are very advanced with Punta Colonet,” Téllez said during a news conference in Mexico City, speaking of the government's preparation of its rules for the project. “I don't want to commit to a date . . . I will commit to before the end of this quarter.”
The megaport would be about 150 miles from San Diego, and it would route Asian cargo through Mexico to the American heartland. It would be built in tandem with a rail link that would carry containers from Punta Colonet to the U.S.-Mexico border.

The project would transform a small coastal community into a port that rivals Long Beach and Los Angeles, which both face increasing congestion with the rapid growth of trans-Pacific trade.

A number of groups have expressed interest in the project, which Téllez said would entail an initial private investment of $4.5 billion. The release of bid specifications by the Mexican government had been announced for last month, but the magnitude of the project caused delays, Téllez said.