Portugal's Mota Engil has submitted the best bid for the concession contract to develop the Cardel-Poza Rica highway in Mexico.

The proposals were submitted on 6 May 2014. Mota Engil's economic proposal involves a grant of P827 million and a total construction cost estimated at P3470 million (US$269.6 million).

Controladora de Operaciones de Infraestructuras (Empresas ICA) was the other bidder that submitted a valid proposal. That proposal involves a grant of P3399 million and a total construction cost estimated at P5570 million (US$432.7 million).

The two other bidders, Sacyr Concesiones and Omega Corporación, also sent proposals but were disqualified because their proposals were considered insolvent.

The project is part of the 2013-2017 Infrastructure Investment Plan launched by mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto.

The project consists of the construction of the A2 highway with two circulation lanes in the tranche between Laguna Verde and Gutiérrez Zamora, in the state of Veracruz. The length of the stretch is 126km. Its goal is to serve 3,000 vehicles a day and speed up the transit along the Veracruz-Matamoros Corridor.

The latest announcement on road PPP projects reported by Mexico's Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT) was in January this year. The STC published then that OHL México had been selected as the preferred bidder for the construction, operation and maintenance during 30 years of the Atizapán-Atlacomulco highway in the state of Mexico.