The overarching goal of this project is to expand the existing transportation infraestructure and, with the participation of private investments, to build and operate a logistics platform that will allow receive inputs from the rest the world, add value, and produce high-specialty manufactured goods to be re-exported to the rest of the world. The comprehensive project represents a unique opportunity to boost existing infrastructure through investments and promotional actions, trigger industry, create jobs, and enhance the competitiveness of the Southeast region.
Map of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Interoceanic Corridor.
It is projected that the CIIT will be operating comprehensively in the third quarter of 2024. It's important to highlight that the region has a number of attributes justifying and supporting the project's development, making it attractive to international investment:
Geographical advantages:
- Strategic location
- 303 km between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans
- Multicontinental reach to global markets
- Installed transportation and communication infrastructure.
- Available energy, water, workforce, and internet.
- Free Trade Agreements.
- The location also allows capitalizing on new Global Megatrends in trade and logistics resulting from unconventional fuel management and investments in renewable and low-carbon energies.
The project includes the creation of a smart city.
TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE
The privileged position of the Isthmus is reinforced by an infrastructure that is currently being developed as part of the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
- Two ports with high growth potential:
- In 2022, Salina Cruz handled 8.6 million tons (almost exclusively oil cargo), Besides modernization, a new port with a 24-meter access depth is under construction to receive deeper-draft vessels.
- Coatzacoalcos managed 34.4 million tons, of which was oil and the rest mineral and agricultural bulk.
- Two-lane Transisthmian Highway –336 km– with the capacity to expand to four lanes and connecting to roads heading to the Southeast, Central, and Northern regions of the country.
- Operating railway (Z Line) inaugurated last December 22, spanning 303 km, with 227 km already rehabilitated, along with 82 bridges and 290 drainage works, providing access to both ports. The stretch has recently been extended to Coatzacoalcos (temporary occupation of Ferrosur's railway tracks, DOF, May 2023).
- Rehabilitation of the FA Line from Coatzacoalcos to Palenque, allowing connectivity with the Mayan Train (310 km out of 328 km, with 91 bridges and 680 drainage works).
- Restoration of 458 km of the K Line from Ixtepec to Cd. Hidalgo, with 526 bridges and 318 drainage works.
- Two airports: Ixtepec, for military use, but with an agreement to become mixed-use, and Minatitlán, with ample excess capacity.
Damián Cuellar, founder partner of ArqueteIstmo.
PROJECT STRATEGY
A comprehensive strategy has been developed, focusing on two key elements:
- The development and interconnection of the region's transportation infraestructure.
- The implementation of an integral strategy to promote private participation in the project, coordinated by the Government of the Republic, with the collaboration of business leaders, to drive industrial-logistic growth in the area through Development Poles for Well-Being (Podebis) with strategic fiscalized zones. This implies a significant public investment in constructing and modernizing transportation infrastructure, along with substantial opportunities for private investment and Public-Private Partnerships for the Welfare Development Poles, as well as commercial, residential, and support service areas. As a result, the project anticipates:
- Investment and its multiplier effect in the region.
- Better-paidand more specialized employment.
- Regional development and increased security for the Southeast of the country.
- Industrial capacity to stimulate cutting-edge sectors and transformation of traditional products.
The vision of the project is long-term, with future action lines extending beyond the current administration, as well as very specific and immediate actions.
For the current year, particularly before the end of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's administration (9 months of 2024), actions are directed towards completing the rehabilitation and modernization of primary railway lines for the corridor (Z and SA), expanding roadworks providing access to ports to enhance trucking connections between both ports. Additionally, concluding the expansion and modernization works of the ports of Coatzacoalcos and Salina Cruz. Finally, realizing and implementing the required investments in the main airports of the region. In other words, all efforts are geared towards enabling the operation of the Interoceanic Corridor.
Care for the environment, a fundamental part of the project.
In the medium term, considering a three-year period, the goal is to completely conclude the rehabilitation of transportation infrastructure: railway, road, port, and airport.
But at the same time, developing the Poles of Development for Well-Being (Podebis) to allow, through appropriate infrastructure (industrial parks), the increase of industrial areas with diverse vocations. Currently, there are nine Podebis between Veracruz and Oaxaca, but it is expected that new alternatives in Chiapas and Tabasco could be incorporated in the near future.
Finally, in the long term (five to ten years), expanding railway infrastructure to new lines and double tracks on existing ones; likewise, increasing the Isthmus highway to four lanes. An important aspect will be doubling container capacity at the ports, as well as the consolidation of regulatory frameworks.
All this allow the consolidation of international integration across the four borders.
In addition to public investment during President AMLO's administration, in June 2023, a decree was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation with the objective of encouraging private investment: Decree to promote the investment of taxpayers conducting productive economic activities within the Development Poles for Well-Being of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Wildlife protection will be a priority of the project.
LONG-TERM VISION
The CIIT project is in its early stages, but it will undoubtedly transform the region and the country. Therefore, it must be viewed with very long-term objectives, extending at least for 30 years.
In this context, the project should be envisioned as a comprehensive regional development plan that goes beyond port, railway, and industrial Development Pole infrastructure. It should also be conceptualized as a large-scale real estate development, with a new city offering housing, commercial offerings, corporate spaces, recreational areas, universities, etc. Considering areas like a cyclotron, a city of high technology, and also containing tourist development poles on the coasts and within the project, with entertainment zones similar to Orlando, along with conservation reserve areas like African Safari, etc. Over time, a new strategic airport will be developed in the middle of the CIIT.
There will be a land bank to ensure that when a real estate investor arrives, there is land use and a development plan allowing orderly growth.
Texto:Real Estate Market & Lifestyle
Foto: santamaria capital / Real Estate Market & Lifestyle