Mexico publishes update for US$200mn Nichupté bridge tender

The tender to design, build, and operate the 4bn-peso (US$200mn) Nichupté bridge in Mexico’s Quintana Roo state will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The tender call, reception of proposals and winner announcement have been scheduled to take place before the year-end, while construction must start in 3Q22, according to an update on government project tracker site Mexico Projects Hub. But exact dates were not provided.

In January, the director of Quintana Roo strategic project agency Agepro, Eduardo Ortiz Jasso, told BNamericas the tender would be launched by end-March. Agepro did not reply to subsequent requests for a project update.

The 8.7km bridge across the Nichupté lagoon in front of the main thoroughfare of Cancún’s hotel district is planned to be opened in the third quarter of 2024, according to Mexico Projects Hub.

It will connect Kukulkán boulevard, Avenida Bonampak and Cancún’s city center and complement the Maya train line – making it a priority project not only for Quintana Roo but also the federal government.  

Low funding from tourism development agency Fonatur has been identified as a cause of delays.

Besides having been included in the 2020-24 national infrastructure program from December, the bridge was also added to the Oaxaca Pact infrastructure program in August. 

The bridge is the first public-private partnership approved by the state congress, which passed funding for the next three decades.