Mexico's Secretarat of Communications of Transport (SCT) has awarded the contract to build the Cardel-Poza Rica motorway to Portuguese company Mota-Engil. The proposal made by the company, together with PRODI, of US$266.48 million (MXN 3.47 billion), was deemed the most feasible technically and financially. The offer was below the $307.53 million (MXN 4 billion) estimated for the project in the National Infrastructure Plan (PNI). The road will be located in Veracruz, spanning 129km between Laguna Verde and Gutierrez Zamora. More than 3,200 vehicles are expected to travel on it each day. Empresas ICA was another firm bidding for the 30-year concession, but its $428.24 million (MXN 5.57 billion) offer was rejected.
The Cardel-Poza Rica road is the third concession awarded by the current administration after Atizapan-Atlacomulco and Siglo XXI, with the Ciudas Obregon bypass and Tuxpan-Tampico motorway currently being tendered.
Elsewhere in Mexico, the port authority (API) of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas has announced an investment of $115.32 million (MXN 1.5 billion) in port and road infrastructure. The funds will be used to complete works at the port of Matamoros by August 2015.
Matamoros port seeks to become consolidated to assist in industrial and commercial operations in Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon. It will also feature a port terminal for state-run oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex). So far, some 27km of the port access road have been built and workers are in the process of constructing another 17km. The port will have a navigation channel 3,700m long and 80m wide as well as 1,109 hectares of port area. The northern pier will be 1,456m long, while the southern pier will stretch across 1,623m.
