MEXICO CITY — State-owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) will extend by three months a feasibility study for a major industrial park in the western Mexican state of Jalisco, two Mexican officials familiar with the matter said.
Jalisco’s government and CCCC agreed in October to carry out a six-month study of the project, which could become one of the biggest Chinese investments in Mexico and give China an important foothold to supply the North American market.
“There will be a three-month extension to the analysis time so that the project is a success,” one of the officials said on condition of anonymity.
The second official said the Chinese company wanted more time to settle on a suitable location and would agree to the extension in mid-May, when a high-level Chinese delegation is expected to visit Jalisco’s state capital, Guadalajara.
The plan calls for development of a site of around 500 hectares (1236 acres) for Chinese high-tech manufacturers near Guadalajara.
CCCC did not reply to a request for comment.
If the project in Jalisco proceeds, it could help mend fences between Mexico and China that were damaged in late 2014 when President Enrique Peña Nieto abruptly canceled a $3.75 billion Chinese-led rail project in Mexico.
The contract to build a high-speed rail awarded to a group led by China Railway Construction Corp Ltd. was revoked as media reports surfaced that Peña Nieto’s wife was in the process of buying a luxury house from one of the consortium’s Mexican partners.
The cancellation caused dismay in Beijing and came just ahead of Peña Nieto’s first official state visit to China, which has so far made little foreign direct investment in Mexico.
