It\u2019s not over yet: State may step in to build Corpus Christi\u2019s inner harbor desal plant<\/a><\/p>\nIn a memo sent to the mayor and city council on Thursday, Zanoni said he has re-engaged Corpus Christi Desal Partners (CCDP), the second-place bidder from the city\u2019s earlier procurement process, to develop a fresh proposal for the facility. The move comes after the council voted in September to cancel the previous contract with Kiewit Infrastructure, citing costs that had ballooned to more than $1 billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs City Manager, it is my responsibility to ensure we continue delivering essential services and infrastructure that enable Corpus Christi and the region to grow and thrive,\u201d Zanoni wrote. \u201cOver the past several weeks, it has become increasingly clear that while groundwater will continue to serve as an immediate water supply during the current and future droughts, we must manage these resources carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nA new partnership path <\/p>\n
Zanoni said CCDP — a team made up of Acciona, MasTec, Reytec and Ardurra — has formally agreed to prepare a new proposal with price certainty for the design and construction of the Inner Harbor plant. He described CCDP as a mix of local, national and international companies with experience in infrastructure and engineering. The city would provide the group with existing design data from Kiewit so the project could be updated and refined without restarting the process from scratch.<\/p>\n
The memo notes that the plan \u201cwill be at no cost to the City,\u201d allowing staff and council to evaluate the proposal over the next several months before deciding whether to move ahead with a design-build contract.<\/p>\n
\nMayor\u2019s announcement reignites debate <\/p>\n
During her State of the City address on Thursday, Guajardo said the city could still pursue desalination by turning to the next eligible bidder now that Kiewit Infrastructure is no longer under contract.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that we do not have Kiewit to work with, we do have another option to go to the next bidder, and so that\u2019s what will be discussed,\u201d Guajardo told 3NEWS.<\/p>\n
Guajardo told 3NEWS on Friday that she directed City Manager Peter Zanoni to move forward with reviving the Inner Harbor Desalination Project, confirming that the issue will appear on the Nov. 18 City Council agenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Mayor, I have issued a call to action and placed the Inner Harbor Desalination project on the City Council agenda for November 18,\u201d Guajardo said in a statement to 3NEWS. \u201cThe City Manager is simply following my directive, as we must all work cooperatively to serve the people of Corpus Christi, because they want and deserve water solutions today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guajardo added that the governor and state delegation support seeing the Inner Harbor desalination project move forward.<\/p>\n
\nProposed five-step timeline <\/p>\n
Zanoni\u2019s memo outlines the following timeline for council consideration:<\/p>\n
Nov. 18, 2025: Council considers approval to proceed with CCDP.<\/p>\n
Nov. 2025: City provides CCDP with Kiewit\u2019s design and cost data.<\/p>\n
Dec. 2025 \u2013 Feb. 2026: CCDP prepares new design and construction proposal.<\/p>\n
Jan. \u2013 Feb. 2026: Council reviews and directs staff to prepare a design-build contract.<\/p>\n
Mar. \u2013 Apr. 2026: Council considers approval of the design-build contract with CCDP.<\/p>\n
If the plan advances, Zanoni said the city will then open a competitive process for a 30-year operations and maintenance agreement, ensuring the plant is managed by an experienced desalination operator. That structure, he said, would help shift certain project costs \u201cfrom debt to a long-term, manageable position within the city\u2019s water rate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nNext steps <\/p>\n
Zanoni plans to present the item for council consideration at the Nov. 18 meeting, emphasizing that a stable mid-term water supply remains essential for Corpus Christi\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to thank Corpus Christi Desal Partners for their confident, quick response,\u201d he wrote. \u201cHaving a stable, secure mid-term water supply is essential for our residents, for our business community, and for our future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zanoni sent a memo Friday proposing a no-cost path forward for the Inner Harbor desalination project as Mayor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-40275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}