Mexican port project rejected by local Baja government

Mexican port project rejected by local Baja government A Baja California legislative panel publicly rejected plans for the development of a megaport 150 miles south of San Diego, Calif. at Punta Colonet last week, saying government officials have failed to live up to promises to provide details of the massive project.
   The head of the California legislature's managing commission announced opposition to the project because so few details have been publicly released, according to Mexican media outlets.
   The Punta Colonet port development is under the authority of the Mexican federal government, yet officials in Mexico City asked the Baja, Calif. legislature to give approval to the megaport project. The state government is responsible for creating a master plan for the envisioned port community that is expected to have as many as 250,000 residents.
   The main opposition to the plan came from a business group that owns mineral rights in the ocean bed off of Punta Colonet. The group has been negotiating with federal officials to gain a portion of the port project, which is to be bid out to private enterprises that would develop and operate the port, and a rail line to send container cargo from Asia to the American heartland.
   Differing versions of the port plan have ranged in cost from as much a $1 billion to $9 billion, and varied in scale from smaller than the Port of San Diego to as large as the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach combined. A Mexican rival to the dominant U.S. West Coast Southern California ports has raised concerns in the American shipping industry about a major shift of cargo south of the U.S./Mexican border.
   Mexican federal officials have not said how the Baja legislative rejection might affect overall plans for the port project.