Mexico's national infrastructure program behind schedule

Mexico's national infrastructure program (PNI) for 2014-18, launched by President Enrique Peña Nieto after he took office in December 2012, is behind schedule.

The program was expected end late 2017 but may drag on into the first half of 2018, local daily El Financiero reported.

"Of the 80 roads included in the plan, 57 have been completed. Regarding highways, 26 out of the 52 included in the program have been delivered," Óscar Callejo, infrastructure undersecretary at the transport ministry, told the newspaper in an interview.

According to Callejo, over 35bn pesos (US$1.8bn) has been invested in the construction of toll-free roads, while the investment to build tollroads has amounted to over 90bn pesos.

Lower government investment due to budget cuts has been partly made up for by the use of public-private partnerships to finance road projects, Callejo added.

However, the prospects for completing all the planned works in the PNI before the end of Peña Nieto's six-year term do not seem good. An analysis by El Financiero reveals that two years before his term ends, 61 out of the 223 projects included in the program are less than 10% complete, while no decision has been made on whether to award directly, launch a tender or offer a concession for 38 projects.

The newspaper reports that overall only 28% of the program's 223 projects had been completed as of July.

The program was designed within the context of the national development plan for 2013-18. It includes projects in six strategic sectors: communications and transport, energy, water, health, urban development and housing, and tourism. The plan requires estimated investment of 8.3% of Mexico's GDP.

According to BNamericas Risk Analytics, Mexico is the Latin American country with the second highest number of delayed infrastructure projects, after Brazil. To see our complete risk analysis of 148 infrastructure projects in the region, click here