They view the mixed investment law with optimism

The president of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry (CMIC), Luis Méndez, said he has met with the director of Banobras, Jorge Mendoza, to discuss the new law on mixed investments for welfare, with the intention of transforming it into a driver that complements public investment in the country's infrastructure development in the short term.

This law would replace the Public-Private Partnerships Law and will be necessary to promote the first joint ventures in the highway sector, including the Córdoba-Orizaba highway (45 kilometers), the Cardel-La Tinaja and Veracruz Port Branch (86 km), and the Nuevo Laredo International Bridge (8 km).

In a press conference, he affirmed that drafting a new law is strategic and essential to achieving greater private investment in various sectors. In the coming weeks, he will sign a collaboration agreement with Banobras, and during the next session, he will also engage with legislators to support the measure due to the expected benefits.

“We need to increase public resources. From 2025 to 2026, we expect public investment as a percentage of GDP to increase from 2.3% to 2.5%, which is about 80 billion pesos. An additional 1.5% would be private, reaching 4%. We estimate that for every peso invested in infrastructure, nine pesos could be projected in private investment, generating an interesting dynamic,” he explained.

From the perspective of the CMIC representative, the ideal scenario for the country is that, with gradual growth, 6% of GDP will be allocated to infrastructure by 2030 (4% of public resources).

Regarding public-private joint ventures, the businessman commented that they should also be directed toward logistics and transportation projects, water infrastructure, urban mobility systems, schools, and hospitals.

Trains, an option

Regarding passenger train development projects, Méndez commented that, to date, they believe there is a similar participation in kilometers in relation to the sections being built by the Ministry of National Defense (Mexico-Pachuca and Mexico-Querétaro) and those that are in the process of public bidding (a sub-section of the Querétaro-Irapuato route and another of the Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo route).

When asked why they didn't comment on the draft calls for tenders, which could have helped more SMEs have the opportunity to participate and benefit, he replied that the chamber's goal is to ensure the same protection for large companies as for SMEs and MSMEs.

"We are implementing an internal program to increase the maturity level of SMEs and MSMEs to form consortiums and gain access to those large tenders that require specialties and different types of flows... Furthermore, once the large companies win, they subcontract, and we hope it will be under fair conditions," he added.

We need to increase public resources. From 2025 to 2026, we expect public investment as a percentage of GDP to increase from 2.3% to 2.5%, which is about 80 billion pesos. An additional 1.5% would be private, bringing the total to 4%.

Luis Méndez Jaled,

president of the comic