The contract looked like a winner to Naucalpan, a heavily industrial community near Mexico City. A Mexican corporation whose U.S. shareholders claimed 40 years of solid-waste handling experience in California promised a $20-million investment to provide 70 state-of-the-art garbage trucks, trash collection services and a 210-megawatt power plant to burn methane gas from the municipality’s landfills. So Naucalpan signed a 15-year concession with Desechos Sólidos de Naucalpan (Desona) on Nov. 15, 1993. The deal flopped. But it also appears to have created something of a precedent. That’s because it prompted a complaint under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). And last month, the panel charged with hearing such cases—the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement... [Log in to read more]
