Land for Tijuana Sewage Plant Located, Says San Marcos Firm 

By Mike Lee
STAFF WRITER
February 2, 2007

The San Marcos company responsible for building a long-delayed sewage treatment plant in
Tijuana announced yesterday that it has secured land for the facility.

Mexico's federal government owns the roughly 80-acre parcel, which is near the confluence of
the Alamar and Tijuana rivers.

Uncertainties about locating the facility in Mexico have dogged Bajagua Project LLC for years.
Gaining support from Mexican officials and locking up rights to use the site are critical
components for the company.

Bajagua officials said they had a letter of support from Mexico's national water agency and
expect an official business arrangement to be completed in coming weeks.

“That is pretty clear evidence of progress being made,” said company spokesman Craig
Benedetto. “We are now on a path to getting this project completed . . . in accordance with the
timelines that have been dictated by the court.”

The remarks were made after a meeting with The San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board,
attended by editors and reporters. The board regularly invites newsmakers to discuss current
events.

An engineer with the International Boundary and Water Commission, the U.S. arm of the
binational agency overseeing Bajagua's plans, said he was not aware of any land arrangements
between the company and the Mexican government.

“If it were the case, that would be part of the . . . puzzle to get this project done,” said Carlos
Peña at the boundary commission's headquarters in El Paso, Texas.

Bajagua aims to issue a building contract by early May. Its officials are considering bids from
Earth Tech Mexico, Veolia of France, Inima of Spain, the Tahal Group of Israel and Fypasa of
Mexico. Bajagua and the water commission expect to narrow the list to three companies next
week.

Critics of Bajagua's plans remain skeptical about whether the company can get the plant running
by the court-mandated deadline of September 2008.

“There are numerous other hurdles that will have to be jumped before there will be a contract
signed,” said Mayda Winter, an Imperial Beach councilwoman and a member of the boundary
commission's advisory committee.

One key uncertainty is whether Congress will pay for construction of the estimated $170 million
facility, plus its operation for 20 years. As part of the deal, Bajagua sought private backing in
hopes of getting repaid by the U.S. government if it meets water quality standards.

Company officials yesterday touted a November letter from Citigroup that said the giant banking
firm “is highly confident” it can finance the project.

The Bajagua proposal is an effort to stem the tide of sewage that has for decades flowed from
Tijuana into South Bay beaches via the Tijuana River. The U.S. section of the boundary
commission built a wastewater treatment plant in San Ysidro during the late 1990s, but that
facility doesn't meet Clean Water Act standards.

Bajagua's plans call for using aerated ponds to clean 25 million gallons a day of effluent from the
San Ysidro facility. In addition, the company would like to capture and treat 34 million gallons
daily from inside Tijuana. Eventually, Bajagua wants to sell super-treated wastewater to
businesses.

The firm's investors have spent years and millions of dollars on consultants, lobbyists, lawyers
and engineers to develop and promote their project. They've also contributed to politicians who
helped choose them for the project without an open-bid process.

The political nature of the unusual arrangement has drawn national scrutiny. Some skeptics fear
there won't be enough government oversight. Others say Bajagua does not fully address Tijuana's
inadequate collection and disposal of sewage, two major causes of the pollution.

But Bajagua managing partner Jim Simmons said his company's proposal is a huge step. “We
never said we were going to solve the entire sewage problem from the city of Tijuana,” he said.

Mike Lee: (619) 542-4570; mike.lee@uniontrib.com