LatinNews Daily - 9 August 2024

*Mexico’s President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum has stated that her administration, which takes office on 1 October, will invest M$35bn (US$1.86bn) in the Tren Maya rail project to equip it to transport freight, as well as to function as a touristic railway, as was its original purpose. Sheinbaum said the railway, a flagship project of her predecessor and mentor, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, would be ready to transport cargo in one to two years. She said the project would be important to boost the economy of the states in the southeast of Mexico, where the railway is located. Originally projected to cost some M$140bn, the project was already estimated to be running more than three times over budget prior to Sheinbaum’s announced cash injection.