What infra projects will be priority for Mexico's Bajío alliance?

At least five infrastructure projects serving the central-western region of Mexico, known as the Bajío area, have been proposed as priorities by the recently formed coalition of five states that comprise the Centro-Bajío-Occidente Alliance (ACBO).

ACBO – formed by the manufacturing states of Querétaro, Jalisco, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí and Aguascalientes – was legally created on February 22 to promote economic development in the region and jointly organize strategic interstate projects to benefit all five Bajío states. 

The alliance's goal is to make Bajío “the region with the highest level of competitiveness in the country. One that has a state and intrastate mobility model, as well as a sustainable development model that is an example at national level,” according to a report from Mexican employers' confederation Coparmex. 

Guanajuato state governor Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo, recently named president of ACBO, has been providing updates on the projects that will be a priority in the 2020 agenda of the alliance. 

BNamericas takes a look at these infrastructure priorities – although more could be added in the next couple of years. 

HIGH-SPEED TRAIN

According to Rodríguez Vallejo, work on a high-speed rail link to connect Mexico state with Querétaro and Guanajuato will begin this year, with the aim of extending the project all the way to Jalisco and Aguascalientes states in the future. 

The announcement confirms rumors about the federal government wanting to resume plans to build an additional 210km rail link between Mexico state and Querétaro. 

"The Mexico-Querétaro and Querétaro-León train would have to reach Guadalajara to be profitable, but it would [also make sense to add] a branch to Aguascalientes,” Rodríguez Vallejo told reporters during the formalization of the alliance. 

The 174km Guanajuato-Querétaro rail project had already been confirmed last year and it was known that Guanajuato would kick off pre-investment studies in 2020. But plans to expand the rail line all the way to Mexico state or consider a further extension to Jalisco and Aguascalientes had not been confirmed until now.

The length of the railway between Mexico state, Querétaro and Guanajuato could be greater than 450km, but the official master plan has yet not been presented and it is still unknown how much the government plans to invest in the ambitious project. 

The line would link the cities of León, Silao, Irapuato, Salamanca, Celaya and Apaseo El Alto – all in Guanajuato state – with the city of Querétaro and other smaller towns or cities in Querétaro state, although the stations in the latter state have yet to be decided. 

Funds to begin the necessary studies for the Guanajuato-Querétaro rail link were approved last year under the 2020 federal spending budget, granting Guanajuato 26mn pesos (US$1.3mn) from the finance ministry. 

The funds would be used to draw up the basic engineering design and the master plan for the project, as well as to conduct social impact analyses and secure rights of way. However, total investments needed to build the line have been estimated at 20-25bn pesos – without including the additional 210km link to Mexico state. 

Meanwhile, the original idea for the Mexico-Querétaro rail link was for a three-track railroad with 14 stations, beginning in Ecatepec in Mexico state and ending in Santiago de Querétaro, with an estimated investment of 50.8bn pesos. However, that plan would likely be updated as it was proposed by the transport and communications ministry (SCT) back in 2014. 

Last October, Querétaro governor Francisco Domínguez told media that the federal government proposed building the rail line as a public-private partnership.

OTHER PROJECTS

In February, airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP) announced that it would invest 12bn pesos to expand the existing Guadalajara international airport, hoping to turn the airport in the Jalisco state capital into a hub.

GAP’s investment will entail the construction of a second runway, new platforms and a new terminal. 

The alliance also plans to keep the troubled El Zapotillo dam project in Jalisco alive, as its feasibility has been questioned by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and the project faces opposition from environmental groups. 

The aqueduct project involves the design, construction and operation of an aqueduct to transfer water from Jalisco state's existing El Zapotillo reservoir to the city of León in Guanajuato state.

Under stage one of the national infrastructure program (PNI), the construction for the dam received an investment of 13.7bn pesos.

León and Guadalajara would benefit the most from the dam, which would channel 24% of the freshwater collected to León and the remaining 76% to the metropolitan area of Jalisco, Rodríguez Vallejo told reporters last week. 

Water authority Conagua is currently preparing an analysis of the viability of the dam project for AMLO to make a decision of its future, the director of national water authority Conagua, Blanca Elena Jiménez Cisneros, told reporters last week. 

The last two projects concern the expansion of the 63km San Felipe–Silao highway in Guanajuato state from two to four lanes and building a highway to connect Querétaro with Guanajuato. 

While the governors have not disclosed any construction details of the Querétaro-Guanajuato highway, Rodríguez Vallejo met with finance minister Arturo Herrera Gutiérrez at the end of 2019 to request a budget of about 1.7bn pesos to carry out the San Felipe–Silao highway expansion project, but no further details on the investment have been mentioned so far.