The project to construct the new airport in Mexico City is marked by a lack of information about the process by which the design proposal submitted by architects Norman Foster and Fernando Romero was chosen. Fernando Romero is a son-in-law of Carlos Slim, considered the world's richest man, owner of Telmex and numerous contractors specializing in public works.
The initiative was introduced on September 3 by President Enrique Peña Nieto, who assured that the work will be done with transparency. The federal government launched the web page aeropuerto.gob.mx to provide information about the project. Although the web page has a section on transparency, there are no documents about the selection process ....
Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Secretary of Communications and Transport, stated that selection of the design by Romero and Foster was the result of an analysis by a committee of experts, without either giving details of the process or specifying who was involved.
The decision, said the Secretary, took place last September 2, exactly two hours before President Peña Nieto delivered the message for his second year in office:
"It is the product of a complete analysis conducted by a committee of experts, with specialists in this highly technical issue, at a high technical level, in order that the committee would act in favor of the proposal that met all the requirements. Yesterday at 9:50 AM, the committee voted unanimously in favor of the design submitted by architects Norman Foster and Fernando Romero."In an interview with CNN's Carmen Aristegui, Manuel Ángel Núñez Soto, director of the Airport Group of Mexico City, said that the process was done under confidentiality, in order that it might be viable:
"What in this case allows undertaking a market investigation by invitation and under the law of reserve to keep a project confidential."
However, Núñez did not specify the criteria used to choose the design submitted by Foster and Rosemary, before adding:
"Whoever won, won for a reason of principle ... a committee was formed. We provided instruction that it was a very important project for the country. Here friendships, relationships, or situations of any nature other than the project that was in Mexico's interest did not matter."Other participating firms were Gómez Pimienta Magar, Legorreta, Hernández Rogers, López Guerra, Javier Sordo Madaleno and Bringas, among others.
On its website, Norman Foster announced that it had won the "international competition," without elaborating. Fernando Romero also noted that the proposal was selected after a nearly six-month long competition, without delving into the competition, the process or the decision.
Secretary Ruiz Esparza expressed gratitude for the participation of Mitre, an aeronautical research agency; of the organization of international civil aviation; the International Air Transport Association; as well as specialists, government agencies, the UNAM [National Autonomous University of Mexico] and the National Polytechnic Institute, but did not specify their level of responsibility.
The only information available about the selection process is a direct award made in October 2013 of 3 million pesos [$229,420 USD] to the company ADHOC Consultores Asociados. This contract, signed by the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation, was for
"an external consulting expertise to support selectively and strategically new projects for the realization of the airport in the center of the country."The names of the experts are not made public. Nor if they were responsible for selecting the winning proposal.
The lack of information is also reflected among those involved. In his speech, Secretary Ruiz Esparza said that the airport will need 4,600 hectares [11,367 acres]; however, on his website, architect Fernando Romero reported that it will occupy 4,700 hectares [11,614 acres], while Norman Foster's website indicates 5,555 hectares [13,591 acres].
Furthermore, President Enrique Peña Nieto said that the first phase of the airport includes three runways, while Secretary Ruiz Esparza maintains that there will be two. Spanish original