Carlos Slim submits best bid to build new Mexico City airport terminal
The new airport is the most expensive project undertaken by the Peña Nieto administration
A consortium led by Mexican businessman Carlos Slim has submitted the lowest bid to build one of the terminals at Mexico City’s new, $13 billion-airport. According to Reuters, the consortium made up of Edificadora Cicsa, construction company ICA and Spain’s FCC turned in a bid of 84.8 billion pesos ($4.2 billion) for the project.
Two other bids led by Mota Engil and Omega Construcciones, were for 90 billion and 87.5 billion pesos respectively. The winner will be announced on January 6.
The city’s new airport was co-designed by British architect Norman Foster and by a firm headed by Fernando Romero, who is Carlos Slim’s son-in-law. Construction will cost approximately $13 billion.
Slated for inauguration in 2020, the new airport will service an estimated 68 million passengers a year.
The billionaire businessman already has a stake in a $361-million contract to build a runway for the new airport.
In the long run, the new facilities will be able to accommodate 120 million passengers a year
The new airport is the most expensive project of the Enrique Peña Nieto administration, and is meant to be the defining symbol of a six-year presidency that is focusing on modernizing infrastructure.
In the long run, the new facilities will be able to accommodate 120 million passengers a year, four times more than the capital's Benito Juárez International Airport. The new airport will be located in the Texcoco Valley, some 25 kilometers northeast of Mexico City.
The government says it will put around $4 billion into the project. The rest of the money is being raised by issuing bonds.
English version by Susana Urra.
