Promise of natural gas projects in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec

MEXICO CITY, June 30 .- Although there will be tax incentives for investors to bring their projects to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the director of the Interoceanic Multimodal Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Rafael Marín Mollinedo, acknowledged that the works to bring natural gas to the area have yet to be completed.

He said that they are aware of the need to have natural gas for greater development in the region, and that is why there are projects to build a gas pipeline.

"If there is no gas there will definitely be no industrial development in the Isthmus", for this reason the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) is going to build a gas pipeline that crosses the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to take natural gas to the parks and a liquefaction plant in Salina Cruz, he stated in a press conference organized by the Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin).

He added that they will give advantages to investors coming to the region. "There will be tax incentives with respect to Income Tax (ISR), important reductions in ISR, Value Added Tax, payroll tax, foreign trade taxes, mainly in the case of tax incentives".

He said that they expect to have the 10 industrial parks ready in September and added that "in November of this year, at the latest, we should start operations with the corridor, with the inter-oceanic container and train crossing".

Marín Mollinedo explained that they are still in the process of donating the land for two industrial parks that will complement the 10.

"We want the parks to be decreed now in September in order to send them to next year's fiscal miscellaneous and start with the 2023 fiscal package, but we are already prepared. There are works that we are still going to finish in 2023, but we will be able to start operations and they will increase based on the development of the parks.

He added that two container terminals will be built and should be completed by December 2023.

For the president of Concamin, José Abugaber Adonie, "there are potential areas with a phased development profile, among them is the automotive sector.

"In the short term (less than 3 years) there is the automotive sector, light passenger vehicles, light utility vehicles, electric vehicles, medium trucks and components, such as brakes, transmission, clutch plates, fuel injection systems, steering box components, wheel drums, braking systems."

However, he considered that there are challenges in terms of land management and urban development, because there are urban development plans that are 20 and 30 years behind schedule or there are none at all.

It is also necessary to accelerate work on connectivity and last mile services, roads, railroads, electricity, telecommunications, gas and water.