Infrastructure Insight: Mexico

by Sameer Joshi or 01-May-2018

Mexico’s infrastructure industry is expected to continue to grow over the forecast period (2018–2022), despite uncertainty about the upcoming presidential elections and the potential economic impact of renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The total value of the infrastructure construction market reached MXN1.1 trillion (US$58.1 billion) in 2017, according to the Infrastructure Intelligence Center (IIC) – up from MXN962.4 billion (US$50.8 billion) in 2012 – and will rise to MXN1.7 trillion (US$89.8 billion) in 2022 (in nominal value terms).

This growth is based on the assumption that a number of the large-scale projects move ahead as planned, including Mexico City’s New International Airport (NAIM), the Veracruz Port Expansion, the Toluca–Mexico City Rail Line, the Guadalajara Light Rail Line 3 and the Ticul 1 Photovoltaic Power Plant.

The electricity and power sector accounts for the largest share of the project pipeline, with a total project value of US$47.7 billion; this is followed by airports and other infrastructure, with a pipeline value of US$22.8 billion. The pipeline for railways projects amounts to US$11.4 billion, while for road projects it stands at US$9.3 billion. For water and sewerage infrastructure projects, it totals US$8.3 billion.

The public sector will directly fund nearly 62% of the overall infrastructure construction project pipeline, according to the IIC, with a further 15.6% being a mix of public and private funding mechanisms. The private sector will fund the remaining 22.7% of the pipeline, with much of this being related to projects in electricity and power.