Spotlight: Mexico's US$10bn portfolio of PPP highways

Plans to develop an estimated 201bn-peso (US$10bn) portfolio of 43 highway projects through public-private partnerships continue to move forward in Mexico, with 28 of those projects now underway and the remainder scheduled to begin or be tendered shortly.

The projects are included in the 2020-24 national infrastructure program (PNI) that the government and private sector last updated in December, and they are among the few initiatives that have continued as originally announced despite the uncertain panorama for investments in the country at present. 

Many of these projects had been proposed in the past and were therefore older undertakings that were already well advanced, Eduardo de la Peña, an infrastructure expert at consulting firm Deloitte, told BNamericas.

Many of them involve road expansion or modernization projects that were assigned to concessionaires in exchange for extensions to their concessions, a contractual amendment known in Mexico as a desdoblamiento. 

However, other projects have been put up for tender, are currently receiving offers or bidding processes are planned to be launched this year. 

We take a look at how Mexico’s PPP highway portfolio is progressing, the information on which can also be tracked in the BNamericas Project Database. 

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

According to the schedule of works provided by the government – when the first and second packages of projects under the PNI were presented – there were 29 highway projects underway as of the end of March. 

However, certain projects that were supposed to have started works by now have not yet done so and appear to be delayed. 

For example, the construction of the 4.4bn-peso Nichupté bridge in Quintana Roo state was scheduled to begin in March, but the tender has not been launched yet. According to local authorities, the tender documents should be published during the second quarter of 2021. 

Another project on which construction was scheduled to start in March but has not begun is the 4.7bn-peso Eastern highway access to the Felipe Ángeles international airport (AIFA). Bids are currently being received and a winner is due to be announced on April 20. 

But some projects have already completed their tender processes and are included among the list of those on which works are underway. One of these is the Aguascalientes or Poniente bypass, which the government of Aguascalientes state awarded to Pinfra in July with a 2bn-peso, 30-year contract for the 45km, A2-type highway.

Another project that is also under execution and was awarded through a tender in December is the 8.7bn-peso Tultepec-AIFA-Pirámides highway in Mexico state to the north of Mexico City, which was won by Mota-Engil México, the only company to make a bid. 

Most of the remaining projects involve so-called desdoblamientos carreteros, or amended highways.

These involve companies including Roadis, which began construction on the 4.9bn-peso Santa Catarina urban viaduct in 2019; Red de Carreteras de Occidente (RCO), which is building the Ecuandero-La Piedad highway, Zitácuaro-Maravatío highway and Lagos de Moreno bypass with an investment of 8.9bn pesos; and META, which is responsible for the 4.2bn-peso San Luis Potosí bypass (Ventura-El Peyote). 

BIDDING PROCESSES

While not all the remaining highway projects will be put up for tender – as some have already been assigned to big construction forms – there are some for which bidding processes have been announced or launched. 

The projects currently being tendered include the 2.6bn-peso Real del Monte-Entronque Huasca highway in Hidalgo state, for which a winner will be picked on April 16; the Zaragoza elevated viaduct in Mexico City, with the winning bidder to be named on July 27; and the Eastern highway access to AIFA that was mentioned above, a decision on which will be announced on April 20. 

UPCOMING

There are also at least six PPP highway tenders coming up this year, according to the financial model under which the projects were presented in the program. 

These include the Nichupté bridge mentioned before, the 1.8bn-peso Tepic-Compostela highway in Nayarit state, the 3.4bn-peso Southern Oaxaca bypass in Oaxaca state, the 2.8bn-peso Otay Mesa East II international border crossing in Baja California state, the 5.1bn-peso Silao–San Miguel Allende highway in Guanajuato state and the 19bn-peso Interserrana highway in Nuevo León state. 

Tenders will be published separately by the respective project promoters. 

Dates have now been set to begin construction on another six projects this year and builders have been named. 

The following is the list of the statuses of all 43 projects. 

Bidding underway

Eastern highway access to AIFA

Zaragoza elevated viaduct

Real del Monte-Entronque Huasca highway

 

Awaiting tender

Nichupté bridge 

Tepic–Compostela highway 

Southern Oaxaca bypass

Otay Mesa East II international border crossing 

Silao–San Miguel Allende highway

Interserrana highway 

 

Awaiting start of construction

Centinela–La Rumoros highway modernization

San Miguel bridge modernization & Los Mochis–Topolobampo bypass

La Gloria–Colombia highway

Córdoba–Orizaba bypass

La Piedad–La Barca highway

Salamayuca–San Jeronimo border bypass connector

 

Under Construction

Siervo de la Nación urban highway

Santa Catarina urban viaduct

Mitla–Tehuantepec II highway

Ecuandero–La Piedad highway, Zitácuaro-Maravatío highway and Lagos de Moreno bypass

Pacific southern package: Guadalajara–Tepic highway, Guadalajara bypass and Tepic bypass

Northeast maintenance and rehabilitation highway package

Southeastern Aguascalientes bypass

San Luis Potosí bypass (Ventura–El Peyote)

Tuxtla Gutiérrez–San Cristóbal highway expansion

Avenida Juárez (first stage)

Tepic Villa Unión highway

Fresnillo–Osiris-Cuauhtémoc bypass modernization

Connectivity works to AIFA

Maintenance, rehabilitation and operation of the Jala-Compostela-Las Varas highway

La Pitahaya section of the San Luis western bypass

Ciudad Juárez bypass

Maintenance, rehabilitation and operation of southern highways

Ixmiquilpan bypass

Monterrey-Laredo highway (La Gloria-San Fernando section)

Complementary works to the Laredo–Texas Colombia bridge 

Naucalpan–Ecatepec highway

Main access road to AIFA

Southern Mexico state highway package

Colima bypass

Cuapiaxtla–Cuacnopalan highway

Brownsville–Matamoros bridge

Altar–Sàsabe highway

Tultepec–AIFA–Pirámides Highway