NAI Rio Grande Valley's own Mike Blum weighs in on the importance of border infrastructure and why it is crucial to the growth of McAllen/Reynosa

NAI Rio Grande Valley's own Mike Blum weighs in on the importance of border infrastructure and why it is crucial to the growth of McAllen/Reynosa
McAllen Economic Development Corporation

Building up the infrastructure between the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Northern Mexico has long been a goal for citizens and public officials. Even with the recent opening of the Anazalduas International Bridge, the fastest growing area on the U.S.-Mexico border faces challenges, in part to the burgeoning population.

Mike Blum, former city planner for the City of McAllen and current partner and managing broker for NAI Rio Grande Valley offered his insight and opinion on “Building Up Border Infrastructure.”

Click here to hear the full report from the Ron Whitlock Reports show.

Border Bank Hits Billion Dollar Mark

Border Bank Hits Billion Dollar Mark
By Kent Paterson
(Scroll down to learn more about Texas Border Business's New official Guest Writer)
Texas Border Business

In a milestone of sorts, the North American Development Bank (NADB) recently exceeded the billion dollar mark in financing projects for the US-Mexico border region. Chartered as a result of the environmental side agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement, the NADB provides loans and grants to both US and Mexican communities.

The latest projects funded by the bank include road paving in Tijuana, wastewater treatment and systems in Nuevo Laredo and storm water systems in El Paso, Texas. In El Paso, the bank has agreed to purchase $53 million in 20-year municipal revenue bonds at a 5.38 percent interest rate.

Juan Antonio Flores, NADB spokesperson, told Frontera NorteSur the deal was a good one for the Texas border city, since 35 percent of the interest payments on the loan will be reimbursed to El Paso by federal stimulus funds. “They get interest brought down,” Flores said.

The NADB official said construction of the system, which should help El Paso withstand flooding disasters like the one that struck the city in 2006 as well recharge the stressed Bolson Hueco Aquifer, is expected to commence in January 2010.

Besides the Tijuana road paving contracted out to the Cemex Company, the NADB has agreed to finance a $22 million water and wastewater project for both the Baja California border city and Playas de Rosarito to the south.

The NADB has been especially active on the Mexican side of the border. In Nuevo Laredo, for instance, a $57.7 million wastewater treatment plant and system was inaugurated last week in a ceremony attended by Tamaulipas Governor Eugenio Hernandez Flores, Nuevo Laredo Mayor Ramon Garza Barrios and NADB Deputy Managing Director Hector Camacho.

The new wastewater treatment system is expected to reduce contamination of the Rio Grande shared by both Mexico and the US.

The San Antonio-based bank channeled $25.4 million for the project, including $20 million in grant funds from the Border Environment Infrastructure Fund, which is supported by funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The new wastewater treatment system is expected to reduce contamination of the Rio Grande shared by both Mexico and the US. Additionally, NADB is providing $84 million to Nuevo Laredo for storm water collection and street paving purposes.

“There’s always been a greater need in Mexico and the terms of loans are affordable in Mexico.”

“In addition to the obvious environmental benefits for Nuevo Laredo, these projects will also help from an economic development standpoint and strengthen competitiveness,” the NADB’s Hector Camacho said in a statement.

According to Flores, several factors are behind the surge in NADB funding in northern Mexico, including a greater willingness on the part of Mexican governments to take on debt, the availability of matching funds from the EPA and the Calderon administration’s drive to increase wastewater treatment capacity in the country.

“We’re more active in Mexico,” Flores said. “There’s always been a greater need in Mexico and the terms of loans are affordable in Mexico.”

NADB loans, which charge Mexican clients between 8.6 and 10.5 percent in interest, are less expensive than those offered by commercial banks south of the border, Flores said. Although the NADB rates would be considered high for US communities, which get lower interest rates from the bank because they are pegged to the US Treasury indexes, current bank interest rates for Mexico are “still good” for the country, he maintained.

In the entire border region, the NADB is helping fund 132 environmental infrastructure projects valued at $1.07 billion...

Back in the Paso del Norte borderland, NADB funding of nearly $23 million in grants from the EPA-sponsored Border Environment Infrastructure Fund is in the pipeline for four water quality and wastewater treatment projects in Dona Ana County, New Mexico. A project planned for the town of Anthony south of Las Cruces, New Mexico, includes arsenic removal.

In the entire border region, the NADB is helping fund 132 environmental infrastructure projects valued at $1.07 billion, according to a bank tally issued this month. In terms of the geographic breakdown of the projects, about 70 percent are situated in Mexico and 30 percent in the United States, according to Flores.

About Mr. Paterson
Kent Paterson Editor - A veteran journalist, Kent Paterson has covered the borderlands, Mexico and Latin America for more than two decades. A frequent contributor to Radio Bilingue and other public radio programs, his stories have appeared on hundreds of stations throughout the world. He has written for publications including Ecoamericas, New Mexico Business Weekly, Crosswinds, Pacific News Service, and more. Kent is the author of the award-winning book The Hot Empire of Chile, a history of the New Mexico chile pepper industry. Kent’s work has been recognized by numerous awards from the New Mexico Associated Press Broadcasters Association, New Mexico Press Women and the national Radio-Television News Directors Association. TBB

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© Copyright 2005 Texas Border Business (as it appeared in the December 2009 issue)

Veterans Bridge expansion aims to alleviate lengthy crossings for commercial traffic

Veterans Bridge expansion aims to alleviate lengthy crossings for commercial traffic

November 02, 2009 11:33 AM
By STEVE CLARK, The Brownsville Herald

Even with fewer border crossings taking place in Brownsville these days, traffic still jams up at Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates.

To address the problem, Cameron County is planning to add a new four-lane span for commercial trucks entering the United States. The county, which estimates the cost of the project at $11 million, is in the process of securing a necessary amendment to the bridge’s original Presidential Permit — required for any structure connecting the United States with a foreign neighbor.

Cameron County administrator Peter Sepulveda says construction should begin in April 2010 and take 12 months to complete. The federal Coordinated Border Infrastructure Program will pay 80 percent of the project via the Texas Department of Transportation.

Cameron County and the city of Brownsville will put up the remaining 20 percent. Sepulveda says the problem with Veterans Bridge is that commercial trucks have a hard time just getting to primary inspection lanes — even if the lanes are empty — because of passenger car traffic.

A U.S. Department of the Interior memo on the project notes the bridge is "at capacity," which translates into long wait times for commercial vehicles — 30 minutes during week days and up to two hours on weekends and holidays. The memo, generated by the U.S. Department of the Interior, forecasts traffic volumes at the bridge to double by 2028, even though volume for both commercial and non-commercial traffic has fallen recently.

Sepulveda says new passport requirements that took effect June 1 have taken their toll on non-commercial traffic, while the recession’s impact on maquiladoras that serve the U.S. auto industry has severely impacted commercial traffic. In 2009 the county will collect about $3.5 million in commercial traffic tolls at Veterans Bridge, down 15 percent from previous years. Sepulveda believes traffic volume will rebound with the economy, however.

"Our commercial and other traffic has been going down because of different issues we’re faced with, but eventually that’s going to come back up," he says. "We need to be prepared when traffic does improve.

Eventually the economy will get better. People will get used to having to get their passport cards. Things will get better. It’s just hard to tell whether it’s going to be in 12 months or 36 months."

The original environmental assessment for Veterans Bridge was put together in 1981. The bridge complex was built in 1999 at a cost of $25 million. Today the facility is crammed with "idling lines of cars and diesel trucks sitting for hours at a time," according to the Interior Department memo. This congestion, which the report notes "contributes to poor air quality at the U.S./Mexico border," would be alleviated by the new span and additional lanes, says the government.

Until the recent drop in volume, truck traffic volume had climbed rapidly at the border, spurred by NAFTA, which went into effect Jan. 1, 1994. The value of U.S. trade to and from Mexico by truck through Texas ports rose from $57.3 billion in 1995 to more than $106 billion in 1999, according to the government. From 1990 to 1999, truck crossings at Texas ports increased from 726,000 to 2.3 million.

Sepulveda says the bridge project has been in planning for about two years and has nothing to do with the city of Laredo’s plan to add seven commercial lanes to its trade bridge.

"They have a different market than we do," he says. "Our competition is the (Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge). That’s our nearest competition."

The Pharr bridge is congested, too, Sepulveda notes, thus improving the flow of trucks through Veterans Bridge could lure some commercial traffic away from Hidalgo County.

"That’s the idea," he says. "That’s a possibility."