Mexico announces $14 billion in infrastructure projects

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico's president announced a program of 39 joint public-private infrastructure projects Monday worth about $14 billion to help revive the economy, which has been pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that Mexico has lost about a million jobs due to the pandemic.

The announcement made Monday by López Obrador and a group of business leaders is part of a plan that hopes to start projects worth as much as a quarter of the nation's GDP by 2022 and create as many as 185,000 jobs.

The current round of projects mostly focuses on building oil refinery plants and highways, but also includes a passenger train project to link Mexico City and the nearby city of Queretaro, as well as some dock and port facilities.