Mexico's Communications and Transport Ministry started seeking bids Thursday for a concession to operate, upgrade and expand toll roads in northeastern Mexico.
The tender calls for the upgrading and construction of 451 kilometers of roads, as well as the construction of the country's first international rail bridge in over a century, the ministry said in a press release.
Dow Jones also reports the 30-year concession includes several highways from the northeastern industrial hub of Monterrey to the U.S. border, and three border bridges. It also includes construction of other roads in the area.
Bids for the highway package are due by the end of March, 2009, and the concession is expected to begin July 31, the ministry said.
The highways being tendered are among those that the government took over in a bailout of private toll roads after the 1995 financial crisis. Proceeds from the new concessions are being used to pay debt related to the bailout and for additional road works.
The northeastern road package is the third under the program. A first package was awarded in 2007 and a second is in process.