The Inter-American Development Bank estimates Latin America must invest 3–5% of GDP annually to close its infrastructure gap. At the FII Priority Summit, experts confirmed nearshoring is already driving demand — especially in Mexico, where pipeline gas imports hit 6.638 Bcf/d in 2025. Power grid limitations and water scarcity remain top bottlenecks, prompting behind-the-meter solutions. FIEMEX, a Mexican PPP, now powers 15% of the country’s electricity. Ecuador’s dollarization and Venezuela’s oil potential were cited as contrasting cases of institutional readiness. For supply chain professionals, infrastructure due diligence is now non-negotiable in site selection.
According to mexicobusiness.news, the Inter-American Development Bank estimates Latin America must invest 3–5% of GDP annually just to close its existing infrastructure gap and sustain long-term competitiveness — a figure central to discussions at the FII Priority Summit’s Latin America forum.
Mexico as the Geopolitical Beneficiary
Juan Carlos Zepeda, Partner at MIP Real Assets and CEO of Quantum Energía, framed nearshoring not as an emerging trend but as an operational reality driving urgent infrastructure demand. “Since 2023, Mexico has become the main source of US imports, and together with Canada we are the main destination of US exports,” he said. This shift reflects deliberate US strategic planning that is “rewiring supply chains completely.” Zepeda emphasized that MIP’s investment mandate explicitly targets powering industrial real estate development in Mexico — across energy, logistics, and water infrastructure segments. He also underscored natural gas as a critical enabler: “Never forget about natural gas,” noting Mexico’s record 2025 pipeline gas imports from the US reached 6.638 Bcf/d.
Power and Water: The Bottlenecks That Cannot Be Wished Away
Joe Sitt, Chairman and CEO of Thor Equities Group, identified two persistent on-the-ground constraints for nearshoring investors: power and water. “The first challenge is always power,” he stated. “The national grid needs to be expanded.” While acknowledging Mexican government progress, Sitt noted private sector demand is outpacing grid expansion — prompting widespread adoption of behind-the-meter distributed generation. Water availability, he added, remains the second major limiting factor for industrial site selection.
Public-Private Partnerships: A Mexican Success Story
The panel highlighted FIEMEX — a sovereign infrastructure fund co-managed by MIP (65% equity), a Mexican sovereign fund, and pension capital — as a working model of effective public-private partnership. FIEMEX currently powers approximately 15% of Mexico’s electricity, making it one of the largest infrastructure PPPs in the country’s history. It raises capital via international bond issuances while maintaining a public-interest mandate.
Divergent Regional Pathways
Ecuador’s Vice President María José Pinto cited dollarization — adopted in 2000 — as a foundational source of macroeconomic trust still delivering investor confidence decades later. In contrast, Venezuela’s acting government used the summit to signal openness to oil and gas investment, though Zepeda stressed institutional and legal preconditions must materialize before capital can realistically flow. Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, Chairman of the World Travel and Tourism Council, offered a stark assessment: “This is the time for Mexico, and for Latin America. The only problem standing in the way is Mexico and Latin America themselves.”
“What we do at MIP is put together infrastructure funds to power nearshoring, to power this rewiring of supply chains. It is a reality. It is a great opportunity.” — Juan Carlos Zepeda, Partner, MIP Real Assets, and CEO of Quantum Energía
“The first challenge is always power. The national grid needs to be expanded.” — Joe Sitt, Chairman and CEO, Thor Equities Group
For global supply chain professionals, these dynamics translate into concrete implications: nearshoring decisions now hinge less on labor cost arbitrage and more on verifiable infrastructure readiness — particularly grid reliability, natural gas access, and water security. Industrial park developers, Tier 1 suppliers, and logistics service providers must integrate infrastructure due diligence into site selection, factoring in both sovereign capacity (e.g., Ecuador’s dollarized stability) and private-sector workarounds (e.g., behind-the-meter power). The $4.2 billion in annual infrastructure financing raised by FIEMEX-like vehicles signals growing appetite for structured, de-risked capital — but execution risk remains the dominant variable across LATAM jurisdictions.
Source: mexicobusiness.news
Compiled from international media by the SCI.AI editorial team.
