SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico (Border Report) – Construction is booming in industrial parks just west of El Paso, where a Taiwanese computer manufacturer is expanding operations and local investors are sinking money into ready-to-use commercial buildings.

“We have 1.44 million square feet under construction or about to take off in Santa Teresa, and we got 1.5 million square feet in San Jeromino (Mexico). The total on both sides of the border is just shy of 3 million (square feet),” said Jerry Pacheo, president of the Border Industrial Association. “Foxconn already has 1.5 million square feet of production space. They do up to 70,000 Dell computers every day, and they’re adding to their existing plant. It’ll be one of the biggest maquiladoras in Mexico.”

To put it in perspective, the amount of construction going on in Santa Teresa-San Jeronimo is equivalent to the new giant Amazon Fulfilment Center in San Diego County, California.

Signs of construction were evident Monday along the Industrial, Strauss, and Cotton roads in Santa Teresa. Cranes dug into the desert terrain with tank trucks ready to water trenches. Civil engineers measured leveled ground where future commercial buildings will rise in the next year.

Pacheco said metalworks fabricators and distributors are setting up shop in one of Santa Teresa’s four industrial parks, while foodstuffs processors are going ahead with plans to commence operations in the near future.

Other new tenants include a packaging company and at least two “spec” buildings. Those are structures tailored to commercial operations built for lease or resale.

Pacheco said pending government infrastructure improvements in Santa Teresa could spark further interest by investors and generate jobs. A feasibility study is pending on the expansion of the Santa Teresa port of entry, whose commercial lanes represent an outlet for traffic congestion at El Paso’s larger commercial border crossings.

Jerry Pacheco, president of the Border Industrial Association, shows a slide detailing ongoing construction at industrial parks in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. (Julian Resendiz/Border Report)

Pacheco said that a water desalination plant is under design by New Mexico State University while the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority is working on an arsenic treatment plant.

A border highway starting from the intersection of Pete Domenici Highway and New Mexico State Road 9 is in the planning stage and likely will boost further development.