Mexico plans desal plant tender for Baja California Sur state

The Mexican government is seeking to launch two public-private partnership tenders this quarter to construct a new desalination plant in La Paz municipality in Baja California Sur state and modernize the city’s water distribution system. 

The total estimated capex is 1.2bn pesos (US$60.4mn), 852mn for the plant and 400mn for the system modernization, according to project tracker website Mexico Projects Hub, which is managed by federal development bank Banobras. 

The concession contract for plant will be for 20 years, while the water system concession will last 10 years. 

The projects are not new but no updates about their tenders had been provided in over a year.

La Paz mayor Rubén Moños Álvarez has now confirmed that there is a plan to build the projects and that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is supporting them, according to a recent report from local news provider BCS Noticias.  

The head of Mexican infrastructure trust fund Fonadin, Carlos Mier y Terán, presented a raft of updates and potential initiatives last month at a forum held by the country’s finance executives association (IMEF), where the two projects were included. 

Fonadin will provide 43.1% of the financing for both projects, while the remaining funds will come from the private sector. 

The desalination plant will pump 200l/s into the city’s urban area and industrial sector, while the modernization project includes operation (and equipment) of the La Paz water operator’s distribution system. 

A contract to design the plant was awarded to Mexican firm CIPRO last year and the engineering study will help determine its location.

Following Los Cabos’ example

Everything indicates that the La Paz projects will replicate the same dynamic applied earlier this year by the municipal government of Los Cabos, in coordination with the state and federal governments. 

In May, the Los Cabos water operator awarded two PPP contracts to construct and operate the 3.6bn-peso Los Cabos desalination plant and 1.3bn-peso integral improvement of Cabo San Lucas city’s water distribution system.