The Guardian – Rival prototypes for Donald Trump’s wall on the US-Mexico border should be built by September, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency said. A bidding process for contractors to design and construct prototypes at the south-west border in San Diego, California, the first step towards the multibillion-dollar project, is currently under way.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/27/donald-trump-border-wall-mexico-prototypes-september
BBC – US President Donald Trump has told supporters that his proposed wall along the border with Mexico could have solar panels fixed to it. Addressing a rally in Iowa, he said the panels would provide cheap energy and help to pay for the controversial wall.
Politico -President Donald Trump floated putting solar panels on his planned Mexican border wall in a meeting with legislative leaders Tuesday afternoon. Trump presented the panels as a way to fund the wall, which is expected to cost billions of dollars.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/06/trump-wall-solar-panels-mexico-239204
AP – For more than 100 years, most of what gets flushed down Mexico City’s toilets has resurfaced two hours to the north in the rivers and reservoirs of the rural Mezquital Valley. A massive new water treatment plant is about to change this. But rather than welcoming the prospect of cleaner water, angry farmers are demanding the government honor an 1895 presidential decree granting them the right to the capital’s untreated sewage, which they see as fertilizer-rich, if foul, irrigation water.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/24/in-mexico-fears-new-plant-will-kill-wastewater-farming.html
Voice of San Diego – As the U.S. prepares to invest tens of billions of dollars in Trump’s project, it is worth asking whether immigrants from Mexico are likely to continue coming north at the same rates, particularly given research showing that economic considerations weigh most heavily among people choosing to immigrate.
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/news/immigration-mexico-soon-plummet-even-without-border-wall/
The Hill – Vice President Mike Pence stressed that Mexico will pay for President Trump’s proposed border wall despite Trump not reiterating the plan in his speech before Congress. Pence said during an interview with “Good Morning America” host George Stephanopoulos: ”We’re going to build a wall. We’re going to enforce the laws of this country.”
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/321744-mike-pence-mexico-will-pay-for-border-wall
JTA – The Republican majority on the Senate Homeland Security Committee published a report favorably comparing Israel’s security barriers with the existing fence on the US-Mexico border.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/senate-report-compares-israeli-us-mexico-barriers/
Fox – At their retreat this week in Philadelphia, congressional Republicans declared they plan to write a “supplemental appropriations bill” to cover the construction of a border wall with Mexico.
Construction News – Mexico City Airport Group awarded the consortium, led by Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim’s Grupo Carso, the contract to build a terminal building for the new international airport for Mexico City in the federal district of Lake Texcoco.
UPI – The United States imports vehicles, equipment, fresh produce and other goods from Mexico. That list may soon include water too, now that a San Diego County water district is looking south for help to diversify its supply.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/01/06/Southern-California-eyes-desalinated-water-from-Mexico/3911483715309/
Reuters – A consortium including billionaire Carlos Slim’s building unit submitted the lowest bid on Wednesday in a tender for the terminal project at Mexico City’s new $13 billion airport as the telecoms tycoon looks to edge out two rivals for the deal. A winner will be announced on Jan. 6.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-airport-idUSKBN13W2YL
World Highways – Mexico will set up four road maintenance tenders worth nearly US$827 million in total as public-private partnerships in 2017. Contracts will cover the road projects Piramides-Tulancingo-Puebla, Matehuala-Saltillo, Saltillo-Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo and Texcoco-Zacatepec.
Expansion – An amendment to the SOLAS Convention, which comes into force on July 1, requires each export container to indicate the weight that moves so certification scales are needed in several Mexican ports that don’t have them.
Diario de Yucatán/AEE – Public money for infrastructure has not been invested effectively or efficiently. While expenditures have increased 7.8 percent since 2009, the value of the investment has consistently declined, according to the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit.
http://yucatan.com.mx/mexico/breves-de-la-republica/la-corrupcion-resta-crecimiento-al-pais
Globe and Mail – TransCanada Corp. says it will spend about $550-million to build a 420-kilometre natural gas pipeline in Mexico. The Calgary-based company says the line would supply Mexico’s state-owned power company with nearly 900 million cubic feet of natural gas a day.
Sentido Comun -Nova Energy Infrastructure (IEnova) is unhappy with its disqualification from another FEC auction. Last Friday, CFE dismissed IEnova offer in the competition to build the Tula-Villa de Reyes pipeline.
San Diego Union-Tribune – U.S. and Mexican authorities said that they are working to address concerns over a possible delay in the opening of a much-needed new pedestrian border entrance in San Ysidro known as PedWest. The entrance’s 12 new lanes are part of a $741 million reconfiguration of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, which is scheduled for completion in 2019.
El Economista – Budget cuts to the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT) wipes out 37 highway projects, and the proposed extension of Metro Line A to Chalco-La Paz.
http://eleconomista.com.mx/industrias/2016/02/19/recorte-sct-balde-agua-fria-cmic
World Highways – The new elevated motorway connecting Mexico City ring road with Mexico-Cuernavaca motorway is due for completion in March 2016.
San Diego Union-Tribune – At a time when border waits can stretch for hours, the plan seems almost too good to be true: a major new international crossing between Tijuana and San Diego, where trucks and passenger vehicles would wait no more than 20 minutes to reach the border.