The foreign companies that have turned to Mexico to settle in any of its industrial zones not only have the option to approach to private developers but also to government trusts created in the 70s with the purpose of generating territorial reserves where industrial plants and industrial warehouses have been constructed according to plans, projects, work programs and specifications proposed by the settlor.

Although emerged in the 70s, nowadays government trusts continue to promote foreign direct investment to its parks, industrial plants and industrial warehouses, at a juncture where it offers investors certainty in land ownership in the feasibility of the basic services, in operating permits and in the quality of buildings and internal infrastructure as well as a nearby location to principal trade routes, educational centers and suppliers in the production chain.

In an interview, spokesmen of four government trusts expose what are the competitive advantages and facilities they offered to investors to establish in industrial parks located in Aguascalientes, Estado de Mexico, Michoacán and Tlaxcala.

Pro-Environment Industrial Zones in Aguascalientes
In 2015, revenues from the sale of industrial land in Aguascalientes reached 25.7 million pesos. This amount is the result of the commercialization of lots in industrial parks Chichimeco, Logistics, Automotive and Tecnopolo I, according to the Fifth Report of Governor Carlos Lozano de la Torre.

The sale of industrial land in Aguascalientes has occurred in a context where the value of the manufacturing production in the entity increased 11.7 percent between January and July 2015, generating more than 103 billion pesos during this period.

It was in 1975 when the government of the State of Aguascalientes created the Industrial Development Trust, with the aim to promote parks and industrial zones which benefit the environment, to boost investment and contribute to job generation.

In an interview, Eduardo Vilatobá Chapa, general director of Industrial Development Trust of Aguascalientes, declared that since the creation of this Trust “industrial development has raised, creating industrial parks one after another. The first one that was created was Industrial City and with the sale of the lands in the late 70s, that money was recovered and the parks that we now know in Aguascalientes have been created.”

It is worth mentioning that the industrial parks of the Trust are located in the area of Industrial Corridor, in the municipalities of Aguascalientes, Jesús María, San Francisco de Los Romo, El Llano and Calvillo.

He explained that the State Government develops nonprofit industrial parks, “in fact all we do is get the land, to the urbanization of what is required and sell the land at a price without profit, so to speak, to be able to be in the most competitive prices, which stimulates the establishment of companies in industrial parks of the Trust.”

Eduardo Vilatobá Chapa said that companies settled in industrial parks have grown thanks to the investment of the Renault-Nissan and Daimler alliance, that in September 2015 began the construction of the complex Cooperation Manufacturing Plant Aguascalientes (COMPAS), which in 2017 and 2018 will see the birth of Premium compact vehicles of Mercedes Benz and Infiniti brands.

For the general director of the Industrial Development Trust Aguascalientes “is the best option to invest in Mexico, the proof is the vast amount of foreign, national and local companies that have been established here and have success.”

Industrial City of Xicoténcatl
Given the expectation that the installation of automotive AUDI assembly plant in Puebla has generated, providing auto parts companies have identified the potential of Tlaxcala State for the installation of their businesses in industrial parks of the Trust of the Industrial City of Xicoténcatl (FIDECIX) which manages three Industrial Cities: Industrial City Xicoténcatl I, in Tetla; Xicoténcatl II Industrial City in Huamantla; and Xicoténcatl III Industrial City in Tlaxco.

Bernardo Segura Sánchez, general manager of the FIDECIX commented that the importance of Government Trusts lies in the fact that they are formed by a group of skilled people in the administration and in dealing with different institutions of the three levels of the Government, which speeds up procedures and permits required by entrepreneurs. “You have a single contact which is the Trust to whom you expose your needs, who together with the Ministry of Economy and Development is in charge of making arrangements so that requirements made by corporations and entrepreneurs are answered faster.”

He also affirmed that given the advantages of infrastructure and services in industrial cities, as well as the strategic location of Tlaxcala, its connectivity, the experience of the workforce and facilities and the support that the Government provides, “the domestic and foreign investors have considered enabling to invest here, consequently, automotive supplier companies such as LEAR Corporation, CEBI, Grupo Antolin, Clerprem, Knipping Automotive, among others, have been settled making a positive impact on employment creation.”

The FIDECIX is part of the Mexican Association of Industrial Parks (AMPIP), plus it is certified with the Mexican Industrial Standard for Parks and with the Environmental Quality Standard, issued by the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA) and it is in the process of obtaining the New Scheme for Certified Companies (NEEC). “We are 135 kilometers far from Mexico City and that opens up a wide scene of possibilities, we have brought some companies from Chalco and Iztapalapa because logistics was difficult for them to handle, from here, they handle the entire distribution network faster and in a more reliable way, since the road network and logistics opens an extraordinary scene to companies,” added Bernardo Segura Sánchez.