Mexican highway investment to top US$ 121 million

Mexico's Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT - Transport and Communications Ministry) is to invest MXN 1.25 billion (US$ 121 million) expanding Veracruz State's El Lencero international airport, and construction of Edomex State's Coatepec bypass, according to a report in local language newspaper Diario de Xalapa.

The amount will be added to the MXN 15 billion (US$ 1.46 billion) Golfo de México (Gulf of Mexico) infrastructure investment package, part of the country's FARAC (Fideicomiso de Apoyo al Rescate de Autopistas Concesionadas) federal road re-concession program.

The money will be used to build and upgrade 504 km of highways in the Gulf of Mexico area, as part of President Felipe Calderón's Programa Nacional de Infraestructura 2007-2012 (PNI - National Infrastructure Program).

Under the latest stage of development El Lencero airport will construct a new, longer runway. Besides, the Coatepec bypass three other highways and two bridges also form part of the package.

Mexico's FARAC is a government entity that nationalized a number of Mexican toll road concessions in 1994 following the country's economic crisis. Under the new program, FARAC is re-privatizing these toll roads in packages.

FARAC has a total estimated value of approximately US$ 25 billion.