Mexico Readies Airport Auction

An auction for the concession of Mexico’s Maya Riviera airport will likely take place in the coming months, according to Federico Patiño, deputy general director at Mexico’s Nacional Financiera. “We will be in the market for Maya Riviera very soon,” Patiño told LatinFinance on the sidelines of a US-Mexico Chamber of Commerce event Friday in New York. Patiño and Oscar de Buen, deputy secretary for infrastructure, are on tour to sell Calderon’s five-year infrastructure plan. Patiño said the auction for Maya Riviera will be awarded to the bidder that offers passengers and airlines the lowest tariffs. Mexican airport executives LatinFinance spoke to earlier this year say the airport project could cost $200m. Separately, De Buen declined to elaborate on the plans for location and timing of a second Mexico City-area airport, saying only that the government is still studying the situation. That project would likely cost between $3bn and $6bn, say airport executives. The two airports are among some $68bn in projects being supported by the Fonadin infrastructure fund that should eventually reach $27bn, says Patiño. Other infrastructure projects on the way include the FARAC II toll road concession that could reach $2bn, and the $8bn Punta Colonet seaport in Baja California.