Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Mexico will begin taking bids on a $4.88 billion project to build a port complex on its west coast that will triple the amount of cargo the country can handle and may lure traffic from overcrowded terminals in the U.S.

The site at Punta Colonet, 150 miles south of San Diego in Baja California state, will attract container ships from Asia with goods bound for the U.S., Mexican President Felipe Calderon said in a speech. The project includes a new airport, highways and a rail link to the U.S., he said today.

``Building the infrastructure that Mexico needs is basic for increasing the competitiveness of our economy,'' Calderon said in Ensenada, according to a transcript e-mailed by his office.

Calderon has pledged to spend 500 billion pesos ($49.3 billion) a year in private and public funds until 2012 on infrastructure such as highways, ports and energy projects. The government has said the spending will stimulate the economy and reduce the effect of the slowdown in the U.S., Mexico's largest trading partner.

Costs to construct the Punta Colonet port will be financed by private companies that will gain the right to operate the facility in exchange, Calderon said. It will be the largest public works project during his six-year term, Calderon said.

Empresas ICA SAB, the country's largest construction company, billionaire Carlos Slim's Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en America Latina SAB and the building unit of Grupo Mexico SAB may bid on the project.

Container Capacity

Punta Colonet will handle 6 million containers a year when it begins operating an estimated three years after contracts are awarded, the Communications and Transportation Ministry said in a statement sent by e-mail. Mexican ports handled 3.06 million 20- foot equivalent units, or TEUS, of containers in 2007.

The project may create a city of 150,000 residents around the desert bay where it is being built, El Economista newspaper reported, citing Jose Rubio, project director for Baja California state. The port complex will cover 83 hectares (205 acres) on land and 2,600 hectares of the bay, the ministry statement said.

Plans call for a railroad line to connect Colonet to the Mexican border cities of Mexicali or Nogales, or to Yuma, Arizona, or El Paso, Texas. The route will depend on which company wins the bid to provide the rail link, the ministry said.

Punta Colonet will aim to draw ships away from congested ports in the U.S. including Long Beach and Los Angeles, the largest ports in the country.

Earlier this month, Mexico announced it will spend 8 billion pesos to expand the Port of Veracruz, the second-largest container terminal in Mexico. The government will invest 55 percent of the money and companies will pay for the rest.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andres R. Martinez in Mexico City at amartinez28@bloomberg.netWilliam Freebairn in Mexico City at wfreebairn@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 28, 2008 19:55 EDT