MEXICO, U.S. DISCUSS NEW PORT OF ENTRY IN OTAY MESA
Countries working on $4.2B worth of border infrastructure upgrades
In February a group of binational leaders, including U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, explored the possibility of delivering a new Otay Mesa border crossing by 2023 — a year earlier than originally planned. Last week, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard confirmed that the Mexican government is on the same page.
Ebrard and Salazar participated last Thursday in the Strategic Border Infrastructure Forum held in Tijuana.
Mexico is currently working on 14 border infrastructure projects, and the U.S. is working on six. That is a total investment of $4.2 billion. Both governments have already secured the funds for the projects, Ebrard said.
“The instruction given to us by Presidents (Andrés Manuel) López Obrador and (Joe) Biden is that, since funding has already been authorized, we should speed up the works and whatever we have to do to get it done,” Ebrard said last Thursday
at a news conference.
Ebrard said the goal is that by 2023, such projects, including the Otay Mesa East border crossing, will be operating. He said the Mexican agencies involved in the project will present their schedules next month.
In July 2021, authorities from both sides of the border signed an agreement to work together and open the new border crossing in 2024.
Months later, however, at a meeting in San Diego, authorities from both countries discussed the possibility of delivering the border crossing ahead of schedule.
Mario Orso, project corridor director with Caltrans, was one of those present during that meeting. “It was a request made to us and we are exploring it,” said Orso, who is one of the project leaders on the U.S. side, “The collaboration with our partners in Mexico is very intense and positive.”
On the U.S. side, construction of the $1 billion project is under way. Orso said 95 percent of the roads have been completed, and other construction where the port of entry will be built should begin in July.
As of last February, Mexico had secured 90 percent of the rights-ofway to start construction on its end of the project.
Unlike other ports of entry, such as San Ysidro, this new border crossing will require a toll to be collected once exiting the inspection point on the U.S. side. Revenue will be divided between the U.S. and Mexico.
Ebrard said he will also seek to add more technology to the ports of entry to improve transit and reinforce security.
“The goal is to be more effective (...) against fentanyl that goes (to the U.S.), weapons that come (to Mexico), money that comes and goes, and everything that has to do with illicit activities,” Ebrard said in Tijuana.
Salazar, the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, addressed the understaffing at ports of entry. “We are going to push with everything possible,” Salazar said in Spanish in response to a question about whether it is a priority of the U.S. government to address this issue.
“We know we have a duty because our goal is that this project that is so transformative for California and Baja California can be a model for modern border crossings, because of the investment and the technology being used.”
The Pedwest border crossing at San Ysidro, which has been closed for more than two years due to the pandemic, has not yet reopened because of staffing problems by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.