Mexico cancels contract for high-speed rail with China-led group

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s government will seek new bids for a $3.7 billion contract to build a high-speed rail line, which was abruptly canceled just days after being awarded to a Chinese-led group of companies that included Mexican firms with close ties to the country’s ruling party, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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“This is the decision of the president and the essential point is more transparency and clarity, so there is no doubt about the project,” Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Mexico’s communications and transportation minister, said in announcing the project’s cancellation late Thursday on a national news telecast.

The project was won this past week by China Railway Construction Corp Ltd. and China’s CSR Corp. along with a handful of Mexican partners. But rival companies had questioned the bidding process, saying it had been too hasty, according to the report.

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