Mexico plans $316bn for infrastructure Enrique Peña Nieto has backed infrastructure investment to power growth Mexico has unveiled a "transformational" six-year plan to invest $316bn in thousands of miles of new roads, railways, telecoms infrastructure and overhauling ports that Enrique Peña Nieto, the president, says will boost competitiveness for exporters and power growth. The planned 4tn peso total investment in infrastructure from 2013 to 2018 could add up to around 5 per cent of gross domestic product. The prospect sent shares in steelmaker Industrias CH and Empresas ICA, the country's biggest construction firm, rising 3.3 and 3.2 per cent respectively on Mexico's stock market. The ambitious plan, hotly awaited among a roster of reforms promised by the president who took office last December, includes both government and private-sector investment not only in transport and communications, but also in Pemex, the state oil company, the federal electricity commission and national water entity. "With better infrastructure, more investment and transformational reforms, our nation will be able to grow at its full potential," Mr Peña Nieto said, adding that infrastructure in Latin America's No. 2 economy was out of step with its level of competitiveness. He said the reforms "cannot be delayed to consolidate Mexico as a true emerging economic power in the 21st century." The president did not spell out planned spending in the energy sector, but said 582bn pesos ($46bn) would go toward transport-related projects and some 700bn pesos to telecoms. Included among projects are three passenger rail lines and two urban commuter train lines, as well as cargo train projects and four "international class" ports, though no new airport for Mexico City was included. Communications projects included two new satellites and two new TV channels. The president said that if a planned tax reform due to be put to Congress in September is passed, investment could even be higher. Analysts said the fine print of the package still had to be examined but initial reactions were positive. "If you really get those [projects] going, it's more than enough," Alonso Quintana, chief executive of ICA, told Bloomberg at an event in Mexico City at which the president unveiled the plan.