During Baja Californian Governor Marina del Pilar’s morning press conference, she revealed that the company Next Energy, which had been chosen as being in charge of developing the state’s photovoltaic plant has decided to terminate the project’s contract.

This has happened because the project hasn’t continued due to a lack of permits and the company withholding around 123 million pesos which had been granted by the state to build it. After Jaime Bonilla’s administration ended and this process was only halfway completed, the state government decided to act to get the money back.

According to Finance Secretary, Marco Antonio Moreno Mexia, one of his responsibilities is to handle financial risks for the state. One of his responsibilities then has to do with the withholding and possible penalty payment caused by the photovoltaic plant contract. However, two paths were taken regarding this: first, a judicial one to stop the effects against the state, second, direct contact with the head of Next Energy to come to an agreement. The contract and all related documents were able to be terminated without any type of penalty to the state, as well as the reimbursement of the 123 million pesos.

As part of the agreement between the company and the state, Moreno Mexia highlighted three key issues:

• Termination without legal reserve of the contract without compensation payment
• Request compensation of withheld legal shares that were granted as part of a trust
• There won’t be legal actions between both parties once the contract concludes

*Story in development*

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