Exciting things are beginning to happen again in Mexicali.

            That’s the message from Mexicali Mayor Samuel Enrique Ramos Flores.

            Kenworth recently announced a major expansion of its truck assembly plant in the city and a couple of new metal mechanic companies recently established operations here. While the maquila industry has not recovered all the jobs lost during the U.S. recession, current salary levels have risen, giving a boost to other sectors of the city’s economy.

            “Recently, we had the inauguration of the expansion of AMP Industrial Mexicana located in the Cachanilla Industrial Park,” Ramos says. “With the creation of 150 new jobs, this company now has 650 workers in a 35,000 meter area. Other companies like Expopartes located in the Mexicali IV Industrial Park and Manik Motors have also expanded. The interesting point to make here is that these three companies belong to the metal mechanic industry; one of them is automotive. Some of the other recent companies are also linked to these sectors. Such is the case of AIM (alternators and starters) and Swift Engineering (metal components for the aerospace industry).”

            The city’s biggest project, however, may be the so-called Silicon Border development, a $400 million investment to be located west of Mexicali which will expand semiconductor manufacturing in Mexico.

            There are currently 3,000 hec-tares available for the project, which is expected to generate approximately 100,000 direct and indirect jobs over the next 20 years.

            Ron Jones, Silicon Border Development CEO emphasized the role that educational institutions will play in this process and said that there will be an educational complex built within the...

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