BREAKING: Massive $3.65B Contract Win Under AMLO’s Administration

Mota Engil, a company that has frequently been favored under the current government, has secured a contract worth 3.65 billion dollars (including VAT) via direct award. The contract, which is the largest awarded by the current administration, involves taking over the production of fertilizer for Pemex. This award surpasses the 62.3 billion pesos paid to ICA for the Fourth Segment of the Tren Maya, reaching nearly 67 billion pesos.

The contract was assigned to Mota Engil on June 19 by Donaciano Reynosa Ríos, Deputy Manager of Contracting for Pemex Logistics and Pemex Fertilizers. The contract involves "urea production at the Escolín Petrochemical Complex" in Poza Rica, Veracruz. However, the public document does not specify the contract's term or the specific tasks involved. Urea is the most widely used agricultural fertilizer globally. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced in July 2022 that the Escolín plants would start producing ammonia, a basic component of urea, and the fertilizer itself.

The Escolín complex, which began operations in 1971, initially produced ethylene and plastics. However, an explosion in 2002 marked the beginning of a decline, leading Pemex to abandon the complex and even attempt to sell it. Unlike other companies favored by the current administration, such as ICA and Grupo Indi, Mota Engil has operated both as a builder of publicly funded projects and as a concessionaire or developer investing its own funds in federal and some state government assignments.

Mota Engil's construction contracts include Segment One, part of the South Five, and the Campeche Bypass of Tren Maya; the FA Line of the Trans-Isthmus Train from Coatzacoalcos to Palenque, lines 4,5 and 6 of the Monterrey Metro; the Chalco Santa Marta Trolleybus in Edomex, and segments of the Barranca Larga-Ventanilla highway in Oaxaca, among others. These contracts, combined with the fertilizer contract, amount to 161.4 billion pesos.

As a concessionaire or in public-private partnerships, Mota Engil has also won contracts for the Aztlán Park in Mexico City; line Four of the Guadalajara Light Train; the three most important Development Poles for Wellbeing of the Isthmus of Tehuántepec Corridor, in Coatzacoalcos and Salinas Cruz; the Siervo de la Nación Urban Highway leading to the AIFA, and highway segments connecting Tepic and Guadalajara with Puerto Vallarta.