Slim company wins toll-road concession in Mexico

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's infrastructure construction arm has won a toll-road concession in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, a project that will require investment of up to 4 billion pesos ($307.6 million), officials said.

The Communications and Transport Department, or SCT, said in a statement Thursday that it granted IDEAL the 30-year concession to build, operate and maintain 242 kilometers (150 miles) of the Pacifico Norte road network.

The concession includes a 22-kilometer bypass around Culiacan and another 38-kilometer bypass around Mazatlan, as well as the 181-kilometer highway linking those two cities that has been in operation since 1994.

On Sept. 29, SCT received bids from a consortium led by ICA, Mexico's largest construction company; OHL Concesiones, a unit of Spanish construction group OHL; and IDEAL, which submitted the best offer.

The bids were backed by the Banobras state development bank and the Fonadin national infrastructure fund.

The Pacifico Norte concession is part of the Mexico City-Nogales corridor, which includes a branch to the border city of Tijuana Construction on that road network will provide continuity for long-distance transportation and, together with other public-private investment, will reduce transportation costs and improve the level of service, the SCT said. EFE

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