Official says industrial park admits water debt

Representatives of the PIMSA 1 Industrial Park in Mexicali allegedly recognized the debt owed to the Mexicali State Commission for Public Services (CESPM).

The debt amounts to 8.1 million pesos, or $368,181, for water network connection rights. Industrial park managers promised to settle the debt by paying it down on Friday.

Secretary of Honesty and Public Service Vicenta Espinosa Martínez detailed the results of the investigations that came out of the inspections to large debtors of water carried out by the audit company Fisamex.

Fisamex has charged 147 million pesos, or around $7 million, in consulting services to the state.

PIMSA I Vice-president Francisco Fiorentini Cañedo previously denied any money owed to the state, but according to state officials, the company has finally assumed its responsibility.

“We sat down (and) reviewed the documentation,” Espinosa said. “We gave them a deadline to deliver documentation. Now we are reviewing three other parks, because they have four.”

Even though service should have been cut immediately after the debt was revealed, Espinosa said the agency allowed the company to defend itself.

The state official said that to date anomalies have been found in 55 companies in Mexicali for a collective debt of 258 million pesos, or $11.7 million. Close to a third of that amount has already been recovered.

Espinosa added that in Mexicali a criminal complaint has been filed for these cases.