New | Landmark Chinese investment in Mexico as state-owned construction group unveils plan to build Guadalajara industrial park
Project could be China's largest investment in the Latin American country
State-owned China Communications Construction Company reached a preliminary accord on Tuesday to build an industrial park in Mexico that could become one of the biggest-ever Chinese investments in Latin America’s second-largest economy.
The government of the western state of Jalisco and Liu Yueping, Americas chief of CCCC, signed a memorandum in Guadalajara, the state capital, to develop the park. It could give China a major foothold to supply the North American market.
The two sides agreed to carry out a six-month feasibility study to identify a suitable location and for two trips by officials to China to assess which manufacturing companies could participate. Jalisco officials hope dozens will come.
“This is going to be a key source of jobs that will have an impact not just in our state, but also nationally,” Jalisco governor Aristoteles Sandoval said.
State officials said the plan was to develop a site of around 500 hectares, with the Jalisco government paying for half the land, and the Chinese the rest. Paying for the park’s development would fall to the Chinese alone, they said.
The announcement is welcome news for Jalisco, which emerged relatively unscathed over the weekend after bearing the brunt of the impact of Hurricane Patricia, the biggest storm ever recorded in the western hemisphere.
How much the Chinese invest, which companies will come and where the park would be will depend on results of the feasibility study. The companies would have to be manufacturers for the project to go ahead, Jalisco officials said.