Page 128 - STRATEGY Magazine

Soloaga points out, “Forty to fifty percent of the transport busi- ness is interurban, or long-distance transport between cities.” With the hundreds of projects under the NIP umbrella, it is easy to see that the occupational sector that will see the most imme- diate boost is the construction industry. Already responsible for about 8 percent of Mexico’s GDP, the construction sector will be rushing to build and expand all of the ports, airports, pipelines, and railways that fall under the auspices of the program. Con- struction, as well as operation and maintenance companies, will also be of great interest to outside investors, particularly from the United States, Europe, and China.
ALREADY POURING IN
Domestic and foreign investors are looking for attractive opportunities in Mexico. Since the outset of the NIP in 2014, numerous foreign companies have come to Mexico to create man- ufacturing centers. Asian automakers and technology producers have opened new facilities or expanded existing operations, and one railway contract was awarded to a Chinese construction firm. Canada’s Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) announced a doubling of its investment in Mexican infrastruc- ture and is in the process of looking for institutional partners
in Mexico. And AT&T, the largest telecommunications company on the planet, invested more than US$2.4 billion in the Mexican telecom sector in 2015.
Another area that could see a great deal of foreign invest-
ment in Mexico is the energy industry—more specifically, in the subsectors of storage, wholesale marketing, and transportation infrastructure. Ivan Sandrea, the CEO of Sierra Oil, predicts that “the energy map of Mexico is going to change radically over the next ten years.” He points to large solar and wind parks, a larger gas infrastructure, and a huge demand for storage and distribution infrastructure. It is this last category, the so-called “midstream” energy facilities, that is in the greatest need of improvement—and that also represents one of the most attrac- tive opportunities for outside investors. Ernesto Marcos, the President and CEO of energy company Marcos y Asociados, put it more bluntly: “Midstream is the name of the game for the next ten years.”
As an example, Marcos points out that roughly half of Mexico has never had natural gas pipelines; for comparison, Texas has more than 10 times as many miles of natural gas pipelines de- spite being one-third the size of Mexico. And since Mexican natu- ral gas imports are expected to surge by more than 52 percent by
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