On April 9, the decree enacting the Promotion of Investment in Strategic Infrastructure for Development with Wellbeing Act (the “Act”) was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation. This new legal framework aims to establish mechanisms to promote coordinated participation among the public, private and social sectors in the development of strategic infrastructure projects in Mexico, aligned with the National Development Plan. Strategic projects are those projects whose execution or operation is essential for economic development, territorial integration, and the efficient functioning of the economy, including, among others, sectors such as transportation, energy, water, logistics, and infrastructure.
The Act introduces a new framework for structuring infrastructure projects through more flexible participation schemes, highlighting the creation of special purpose vehicles, which may be incorporated through various legal structures such as corporations or trusts, and which will facilitate the coordination of investment among different stakeholders. Additionally, the Act provides for mixed participation schemes in which the public sector may participate on a majority, minority, or equal basis, without imposing mandatory percentages, thereby creating significant structuring flexibility for private investors.
Among the mechanisms included, the long-term contracting and mixed investment stand out, allowing the private sector to participate in the financing, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of infrastructure, as well as to recover the investment through periodic payments, fees, or other performance-based mechanisms. This approach represents a significant shift toward models in which profitability is closely tied to compliance with quality and efficiency standards, creating a more sophisticated environment for risk allocation and management among the parties.
However, the Act expressly establishes that it does not constitute an independent source of budget allocation, indebtedness or guarantees, and therefore, all projects must comply with the applicable legal framework in budgetary, financial, and public debt matters. In this regard, project approval will be subject to a comprehensive evaluation process by a collegiate body, which will consider factors such as technical, legal, financial, and social feasibility, as well as budgetary impact and appropriate risk allocation.
For the private sector, this new regime represents both an opportunity and a challenge. On one hand, it expands access to long-term strategic projects under more flexible investment and participation schemes. On the other, it increases regulatory complexity, requiring a higher level of legal, financial, and technical structuring, as well as compliance with more stringent standards in terms of performance, oversight, and transparency. In this context, companies will need to strengthen their capabilities in risk analysis, contractual structuring, and regulatory compliance in order to participate competitively in these schemes.
Finally, it is important to note that the effective implementation of the Act will largely depend on the issuance of its Regulations and the corresponding guidelines by the Ministry of Finance, which are expected to be published within the next six months. Accordingly, companies interested in participating in strategic infrastructure projects are advised to closely monitor these regulatory developments and proactively assess their investment and structuring strategies to align with the new legal framework.
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Berenice Soto
Héctor Ceballos
Sofía Cano
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