Mexicali Briefs
Lawmaker insists water to be sold to US.
Man arrested for homicide.
Man apprehended for robbery.
A state lawmaker said again water from the desalination plant under construction in Rosarito Beach will be for sale to San Diego, a claim the state has denied.
Assemblyman Luis Moreno, a Tijuana member of the conservative Social Encounter Party, said Secretary of Infrastructure and Urban Development Manuel Guevara lied under oath about the matter.
The lawmaker said Cayman Islands-based Consolidated Waters has been preparing and consulting the state to build the plant while obtaining a contract for the project through a request for proposal that has been especially designed for the company.
The plant has been named the largest in Latin America given it will produce 100 million gallons of water per day. Of that amount between 25 and 40 million gallons will go to Otay Water District in eastern San Diego.
Moreno said the San Diego district has already filed for a permit from Donald Trump’s administration.
According to the lawmaker the Assembly is considering approving a contract for 9 billion pesos, or $500 billion. However, the state has apparently made a commitment to pay the company almost nine times that amount over the next decades.
Moreno said the private company has signed a letter of intent with Otay for the water sale and has also met with US and Mexican officials
The lawmaker said Otay has received approval to build an aqueduct from Rosarito that crosses the international border to deliver sea water.
Financing will come from an increase in water rates that are expected to get approved after Mexico’s July presidential election.
Secretary Guevara said the exportation of water is legally impossible and added coastal public utilities commissions will purchase plant sea water.
He said the state is forbidden from selling water to another country and only Mexican agencies would be allowed to do so through constitutional amendments
Guevara said the documents exposed by the lawmaker are old and estimates included in the project are not valid anymore.
Although the Otay District has expressed its intention to purchase water the state will not sell a single cubic meter.