Mexico - April 2026

On 20 March the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum sent a new infrastructure bill to congress which aims to drive investment in strategic projects by overhauling how the state and the private sector work together.

The bill is part of efforts to use construction projects to drive economic growth and was submitted following intense discussions between government officials and financiers at the 89th banking conference in Cancún, Quintana Roo state, which took place from 18-20 March. It aligns with Sheinbaum’s campaign promises to improve infrastructure and builds on previous efforts to boost investment such as her Plan México programme. Sheinbaum said the bill considers total public and private investment of M$5.6tn (US$321bn) in strategic sectors over the course of her term, which ends in 2030, with priorities including boosting electricity generation, deepening the shift to renewables, and reducing imports of natural gas, as well as building new ports, highways, and railways.

In order to do so, the bill proposes an overhaul of the existing system of public-private partnerships, aiming to introduce a centralised decision-making process run by a new investment council led by Sheinbaum, which aims to attract more private capital by speeding up approvals and implementing an overarching strategy. The council would also include representatives from the private sector, to help improve coordination. The bill stipulates that the state would retain a majority stake in major projects, with private companies allowed to collect rights for a defined period of time in return for constructing and managing it.  

The idea is that by more clearly defining the rules surrounding private investment in infrastructure, the government can improve business confidence and build out a pipeline of projects. Both government officials and bankers appear to share a desire to get things moving: the ruling Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) wants to boost growth ahead of mid-term elections in 2027, and financiers seem optimistic about the bill. “There is a strong sense of urgency,” HSBC Mexico CEO Jorge Arce told Bloomberg at the banking summit. “This must be done quickly.” Arce added: “Joint investment frameworks are highly bankable. There will be interest.” 

Raúl Martínez-Ostos, head of Barclays Plc for Mexico, also struck an optimistic tone, while highlighting that progress will have to be made quickly. “There’s been quite a bit of back and forth with the government to define those rules of the game, and it’s really important to get a few things going,” he said.

More public-private coordination and streamlined processes may help the plan to score some early successes, but critics argue that the law grants the executive branch too much influence over project selection. There is therefore currently no guarantee that the system will remain in place after Sheinbaum leaves office in 2030, which is potentially a major drawback given the fact that these kinds of large projects can take years to design and build. It will also raise governance questions among investors, as it makes the federal government more influential in project execution than before.

Nonetheless, the law appears to be a genuine effort to attract private investment in the kinds of large infrastructure projects that Mexico needs, and the political will is there to try and make it a success. There is certainly no shortage of investment opportunities, and the new law may be sufficient to make investors more receptive, helping to boost economic growth even if only a fraction of the mooted funding ends up materialising.