Military-managed companies to continue running infra projects subject to evaluation, says Sheinbaum

Claudia Sheinbaum, presidential candidate of Mexico's governing Morena party, may assess the performance of public companies managed by the military, such as the one responsible for building the Maya train, but they will continue running projects if she wins the June 2 election. 

However, if these companies, which also manage other crucial infrastructure projects such as airports, do not perform adequately, changes could be made, the former Mexico City mayor said during a banking convention in Acapulco. 

“For now, that's the situation and we have to keep it that way, assess how it's functioning and, depending on the case, change the situation, but we have to keep it that way for now,” she was quoted as saying by Forbes. 

During the event, she told attendees that she shares President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s view of using public funds to build infrastructure, so she would continue to avoid using PPPs if elected.

She said that some PPPs have drained public coffers, providing large profit for private sector parties but not for the State.

“I believe that most of the large public projects have to be [funded] with public funds… without the need to use the old PPPs that had a really high cost for the State and very high profits for private companies. They affected public coffers and weren't necessarily fair,” she was reported as saying by daily El Economista.

The candidate has also expressed her support for a territorial planning program to take advantage of nearshoring, as well as building 100 industrial parks around the country.