Mexico City airport: bidding starts on $6 billion project

The Mexican government this month invited bids on a project estimated at $6 billion to build a new Mexico City airport.

Bids will start in September for land levelling, and in November for tunnels, terminal foundations and electronic systems.

Bids will open in December for three runways and a control center.

Other projects, including passenger and fuel terminals, will start in 2016.

The government announced last year that a new airport was needed, to relieve congestion in the capital, and to serve a growing number of passengers.

Located in a crowded part of Mexico City, Benito Juarez International is the second busiest airport in Latin America, with 34 million passengers last year, behind only Sao Paolo, according to Airports Council International.

A new airport in Texcoco, a dry lakebed east of Mexico City, would harm plant and animal life in nearby wetlands, say environmentalists.

On the other hand, the project is designed to consume little water or electrical power, thanks to integrated photovoltaic panels, and an outer skin that captures rainwater.

Mexico's Transport Ministry (Spanish only) can provide additional information.