Spotlight: 3 of Mexico’s biggest infrastructure winners

A handful of infrastructure giants with operations in Mexico grew their portfolios in 2022, mainly through the government’s flagship projects, even though fewer tenders had been launched than in previous years. 

Mota-Engil

The Portuguese conglomerate won two passenger transport projects, combined worth over 47bn pesos (US$2.41bn), in Nuevo León state capital Monterrey and Jalisco state capital Guadalajara. 

The first was won in September and concerns a 25.8bn-peso contract to build Monterrey’s metro lines No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6. The second was awarded in October and involves a 21.5bn-peso contract to design, plan, construct, equip and operate line No. 4 of Guadalajara’s light rail system. 

For the first contract, Mota-Engil teamed up with Chinese state-owned locomotive manufacturer CRRC, and for the second, it joined Consorcio Tren Ligero Línea 4 Guadalajara. 

Ingenieros Civiles Asociados

ICA has won a substantial number of contracts during the López Obrador administration, overcoming a severe crisis that started during the previous government and a restructuring in 2018.

In October, the company signed a contract with Mexico state’s system of highways, airports and auxiliary services (Saascaem) to design, build and operate an 83km highway between Atlacomulco and Polotitlán municipalities.

The project includes the construction of four junctions and one railroad crossing, 11 bridges and three viaducts, according to procurement site Mexico Projects Hub. ICA will provide the project’s final design. 

Meanwhile, in June, the federal government awarded the firm a 5.57bn-peso contract to operate the Nichupté bridge across a lagoon in Cancún’s main hotel district.

In 2021, ICA got a major contract to build a cable-stayed bridge for the Mexico City-Toluca interurban passenger rail link and received the green light to resume works on the 16.3bn-peso Santa María dam in Sinaloa state, which was awarded to the firm in 2015 for 3.9bn pesos but was then suspended by the Enrique Peña Nieto administration. 

Regiomontana de Construcción y Servicios (Recsa)

Recsa has bid for several rail and water infrastructure works. 

In May, water authority Conagua said it awarded the Nuevo León-based company a contract to build a treatment plant that is part of the 10bn-peso Agua Saludable para La Laguna program in Durango and Coahuila states. The 1.6bn-peso contract involves construction of a conventional coagulation treatment plant with capacity to produce 6.34m3/s of potable water.

Two months earlier, Recsa won two contracts for government flagship projects. One relates to the 20bn-peso Texcoco lake ecological park (PELT) in Mexico state, while the other is linked to the 20bn-peso rehabilitation of the 213km section of the 300km Tehuantepec isthmus rail corridor between Veracruz and Oaxaca states.

For the ecological park, the firm received a 335mn-peso deal to equip and lead the earthmoving works for stages two and three, respectively, in collaboration with firms Constructora y Arrendadora López and Grupo Ressco. Meanwhile, state operator FIT awarded a 227mn-peso contract for conditioning works on 24 bridges at stretch one of the Tehuantepec isthmus rail corridor in a joint venture with Jaguares Ingenieros Constructores.