Investment radar: Latin America's new PPP laws and the pipeline reactivating in 2025-2026

Mexico projects mixed infrastructure investment of up to 5.6 trillion pesos for the 2026-2030 period, according to El Economista. The figure represents an unprecedented recent commitment to public-private partnership schemes in the world's largest Spanish-speaking economy. At the same time, Peru has just enacted Law No. 32441 on PPPs and Asset Projects, while Colombia faces an electoral cycle that conditions the pace of its infrastructure investment. The regulatory map for public-private partnerships in Latin America is being redrawn with speed and complexity.

This GRI Institute analysis examines, country by country, the legislative reforms that will shape the bidding calendar and project structuring over the next two years.

What changes with the new PPP laws in Mexico and Peru?

The ongoing reforms respond to a shared diagnosis: previous regulatory frameworks created bureaucratic bottlenecks, discouraged private participation, and extended structuring timelines to the point of rendering strategic projects unviable.

Peru: Law No. 32441 and strengthening ProInversión

Peru took the lead in the reform cycle with the enactment of Law No. 32441, the new Law on PPPs and Asset Projects. The regulation, already in force, strengthens ProInversión's strategic role as the governing body for private investment promotion and seeks to eliminate bureaucratic hurdles that historically delayed concession awards.

The macroeconomic context supports the reform. Peru's construction sector projects 4.9% growth for 2025, although state investment would expand by only 1.0% in 2026, according to data from the BCR and MEF compiled by Revista Economía. This asymmetry between private dynamism and fiscal constraint reinforces the logic of the new law: if the state cannot expand its capital spending at the necessary pace, the regulatory framework must enable the private sector to fill that gap.

A relevant indicator of the Peruvian financial ecosystem's strength is the performance of the Reactiva Perú program: 89% of the credits granted, equivalent to S/ 51 billion out of a total of S/ 57 billion, have already been repaid, according to COFIDE. This recovery rate signals the local financial system's capacity to absorb risks and support long-term operations such as those required by PPP infrastructure projects.

Law No. 32441 represents the most important regulatory instrument for Peruvian infrastructure in the current decade. Its effective implementation will determine whether the country can close critical gaps in transportation, energy, and digital services.

Mexico: mixed investments and the 2025-2030 highway program

In Mexico, the Executive announced in February 2026 a proposal for a new Mixed Investment Law, designed to harmonize the legal framework and incorporate the model of mixed contracts and unsolicited proposals in infrastructure, while ensuring state oversight. The initiative seeks to channel part of the projected 5.6 trillion pesos in mixed investment toward projects combining public and private capital under clear rules.

Rafael Cervantes de la Teja, Director General of Highway Development at SICT, is a central figure in shaping the new National Highway Infrastructure Program 2025-2030 under these mixed schemes. The road network constitutes the segment with the greatest maturity for applying public-private contracts in Mexico, and the highway program will be the first litmus test for the new regulatory framework once approved.

Mexico's proposed mixed investment law opens the door to unsolicited proposals, a mechanism that could significantly accelerate the project pipeline if secondary regulations establish transparent evaluation criteria.

José Luis Mogollón, Development Director at Quivira, has highlighted the urgency of energy and service infrastructure to catalyze regional development, especially in isolated areas such as Baja California Sur. His perspective illustrates a concrete demand from the private sector: regulatory reforms must translate into effective territorial enablement, not just abstract normative adjustments.

How does Colombia's electoral cycle affect the infrastructure pipeline?

Colombia presents a different landscape. Without a PPP legislative reform of the magnitude underway in Mexico or Peru, the country faces a political constraint weighing on investment decisions: the 2026 electoral cycle.

Munir Jalil, Chief Economist for the Andean Region at BTG Pactual, has warned about the uncertainty this cycle creates for Colombian infrastructure investment. According to projections from Bancolombia, BTG Pactual, and BNP Paribas, the Colombian economy would grow between 2% and 3.2% in 2026, driven by consumption but with investment still weak and conditioned precisely by political uncertainty.

In Colombia, the projected economic growth of between 2% and 3.2% for 2026 could fall short if infrastructure investment does not decouple from the political calendar. Mass transit and regional connectivity projects cannot wait for electoral outcomes.

Despite this context, landmark projects are advancing. Tomás Elejalde, General Manager of the Medellín Metro, leads the execution of the Metro de la 80 and is working on its future integration with the Tren del Río, two initiatives that demonstrate that local institutional capacity can sustain execution even during periods of macro-political uncertainty. These urban mobility projects in Medellín have become benchmarks for public-private management on the continent.

Comparative map: three countries, three regulatory strategies

The comparative analysis reveals differentiated yet convergent approaches in their objective of mobilizing private capital.

Peru has opted for the direct legislative route with Law No. 32441, centralizing promotion through ProInversión and prioritizing the removal of administrative barriers. The construction sector's 4.9% growth in 2025 suggests that the market is already anticipating the reform's effects.

Mexico is betting on a mixed investment model that preserves state oversight while incorporating market mechanisms such as unsolicited proposals. The 5.6 trillion pesos projected for 2026-2030 constitute the region's largest fiscal-private commitment, although the approval and regulation of the proposed law will determine its operational viability.

Colombia is going through a period of active waiting, where the execution of ongoing projects, such as the Metro de la 80 in Medellín, coexists with investor caution stemming from the electoral cycle. The window of opportunity for a new generation of concessions will open more clearly once the political landscape of 2026 is defined.

Implications for structurers and investors

For stakeholders in Latin America's infrastructure ecosystem, the current moment demands granular monitoring of regulatory implementation, not just legislative announcements. The gap between enactment and effective execution has historically been the point of greatest friction in the region.

GRI Institute's high-level forums have consistently identified this implementation gap as the primary risk for project pipelines. Direct interaction between regulators, structurers, and operators, as facilitated in the club's gatherings, is decisive for translating reforms into bankable projects.

The three regulatory reforms analyzed share a common premise: Latin America needs to mobilize private capital at a greater scale and with greater speed. The difference will lie in the quality of secondary regulation, institutional stability, and the ability of promoting agencies to build market confidence.

The region's infrastructure pipeline is reactivating with renewed regulatory frameworks, but its materialization will depend on the rules of the game remaining stable beyond political cycles. The next 18 months will be decisive.