Maverick County receives two proposals for Commercial Port of Entry Feasibility Study

By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2015, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.

Maverick County Commissioners Court unanimously approved to proceed with accepting Request for Qualifications pertaining to a proposed feasibility study for a commercial new port of entry (international bridge) between Maverick County and Mexico at their April 13, 2015 meeting.

Commissioners Court proceeded to vote in favor of accepting the Request for Qualifications for a proposed feasibility study for a new commercial port of entry (international bridge).

Commissioners Court then moved on to Agenda Item No.17 which called for the opening of the accepted Request for Qualifications under Agenda Item No.16.

County Judge David R. Saucedo opened the two Requests for Proposals and read the names of the two companies who submitted a Proposal.

“We have two, and they are Sydney Mielke Structural Engineering Associates of San Antonio, Texas and Raba Kistner Consultants, Inc. of San Antonio, Texas,” said Judge Saucedo.

After reading the names into the record, Judge Saucedo asked for a motion to approve and approved unanimously by Commissioners Court.

Judge Saucedo proceeded to open the statement of qualifications for a proposed feasibility study for a new commercial port of entry from both companies.

Commissioners Court will vote at a future date on which company will be hired to conduct the Maverick County Commercial Port of Entry Feasibility Study.

Maverick County Commissioners Court have expressed interest in designing and constructing a third international bridge between the United States and Mexico at a County-owned property since late 2014 in order to provide the County with a revenue generating enterprise to assist it offset its financial problems. Any construction of a third international bridge in Maverick County will obviously cost millions of dollars which the County would have to issue bonds to pay for it. The plan is that a third international bridge will raise sufficient revenues to pay for the tens of millions of bonds and provide Maverick County with annual revenues.

Maverick County Commissioners Court unanimously approved a Feasibility Study/Presidential Permit for an International Bridge at a special meeting held on December 29, 2014.

County Commissioner of Precinct 4 Roberto Ruiz is the main proponent of a third international bridge in order to satisfy the increased international business traffic through Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila expected to derive from Mexico’s development of its oil and gas reserves in northern Mexico, including the State of Coahuila.

“The State of Coahuila has two international ports that are very necessary for Coahuila, one being Acuna , and the other is Piedras Negras. It is contingent that Piedras Negras, of course, and Eagle Pass will see a lot of movement, more than what we have seen in the last 10 years. That will necessitate an addition for equipment and personnel. That is another reason as the feasibility study will benefit Maverick County financially. As we know, the municipality of Eagle Pass is much reliable on both bridges because of the income it generates. So, if we were able to do anything as far as another bridge is concerned , of course, we know it’s going to take many years for an actual bridge to be done,” said Commissioner Ruiz.   Ruiz noted that the most important thing to do was to do a feasibility study of a third international bridge.

The City of Eagle Pass owns two international bridges and receives up to one-third of its annual City budget revenues from these two enterprise bridges. The City of Eagle Pass international bridges have not yet maximized their use as Bridge No. 1 is only open part-time while Bridge No. 2 is open full-time. U.S. and Mexican customs brokers and trade experts note that the City of Eagle Pass’ two international bridges need to be maximized before a third international bridge is warranted.

The recent decline of oil and gas prices around the world has slowed down the previous rosy predictions of Mexico’s oil and gas exploration potential in northern Mexico for the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, Maverick County seeks to conduct a feasibility study for a third international bridge because it takes 10 to 20 years to obtain a U.S. and Mexican Presidential Permit and wants to be ready when the Mexican oil and gas development boom comes to the U.S.-Mexico border.