Mexican Highway up for Bid

Mexico’s government has announced a MXP4.5bn highway project to connect the southern city of Oaxaca to the coastal resort towns of Huatulco and Puerto Escondido. The 283km road will finance the project with a combination of public and private investment from the new MXP270bn National Infrastructure Fund. A bidding guide will circulate next month, the government says, with a winner to be chosen by the end of the year. The government aims to have the highway completed by 2010. It expects about $2bn will be spent on 14 projects in 2008, and launched in February the Pacific Package, a follow up to last year’s highly successful FARAC toll road auction, which incorporates some existing roads and greenfield projects. The second round of FARAC toll roads will be auctioned in June, according to a banker whose shop hopes to bid.