Voting in favor of pursuing a contract were Mayor Paulette Guajardo and City Council members Carolyn Vaughn, Everett Roy, Mark Scott and Roland Barrera.<\/p>\n
City Council members Gil Hernandez and Kaylynn Paxson voted in dissent, and Eric Cantu abstained.<\/p>\n
![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/3e8aacf46393c5abf4a8d0bb2b8b789e.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
This rendering provides a general view of the overall site for the proposed Inner Harbor desalination plant in Corpus Christi, according to Efrain Rodriguez, vice president of business development at Acciona Aqua Corporation.<\/p>\n
The pending contract with CCDP is expected to include three major components: taking the project to 60% design, refinement of a guaranteed maximum price and development of a demonstration plant, city officials have said.<\/p>\n
The council could consider the drafted contract in April.<\/p>\n
CCDP, now poised to take on the project, was the second-ranked bidder in the initial award process.<\/p>\n
Kiewit Infrastructure Co. was the initial design-builder, but the design contract was terminated in a 6-3 vote in September.<\/a><\/p>\n Several council members attributed their vote against continuing with design to the overall cost for plant development that had been quoted by Kiewit \u2014 about $1.2 billion, based on 10% design.<\/p>\n CCDP\u2019s preliminary guaranteed maximum price is about $979 million.<\/p>\n Under that figure, it\u2019s estimated that the bills of average residential customers would increase by about $13.80, according to a presentation shown to the City Council.<\/p>\n Average residential customers use about 6,000 gallons of water per month.<\/p>\n Bills would increase by about $46 for average commercial accounts and, for large-volume users, by about $207,000, the presentation showed.<\/p>\n Project controversy has continued, mirrored in a nearly three-hour public comment session. Among concerns that have consistently been raised are potential environmental impacts, as well as the proximity to the Hillcrest neighborhood<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kirsten Crow covers city government and water news. Have a story idea? Contact her at kirsten.crow@caller.com.<\/p>\n Consider supporting local journalism with a\u00a0subscription to the Caller-Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n