TheCityFix Labs México’s Fourth Workshop Focuses on Financial Modeling
TheCityFix Labs México project teams explore Hermosillo, Sonora, during the fourth workshop. Photo by WRI México
On October 29, WRI México conducted the fourth installment of TheCityFix Labs México workshops in Hermosillo, Sonora. TheCityFix Labs is an initiative of WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, with support from the Citi Foundation. TheCityFix Labs México is currently supporting the preparation, technical design and financial feasibility of seven sustainable infrastructure projects across the country.
During this workshop, Fernando Martínez Vega, Regional Director of Citi Banamex in Sonora, provided a few words of encouragement to the project teams, emphasizing their important role in promoting and implementing sustainable projects. He also touched on the crucial need to involve the private sector, such as banks, to accelerate and scale these projects in Mexican cities.
The remainder of the workshop largely consisted of an interactive exercise in which the project teams worked to identify the size of the financing gap for each of their respective projects. Each of the teams worked to determine the amount of revenues that can be generated for their projects in relation to capital and operational expenses. This exercise will be used as a roadmap for the project sponsors to obtain public and private sources of capital for their projects.
Municipality of Xalapa, Veracruz, joins TheCityFix Labs Cohort
In September, the Los Cabos Biogas to Energy Generation project dropped out of the cohort. To take their place, TheCityFix Labs México invited the Municipality of Xalapa, Veracruz to join the project cohort. Xalapa had been one of the runner-up teams from the initial call for projects announced in April 2019. The Xalapa project focuses on developing an integrated management strategy for water resources. TheCityFix Labs México advisors have been working closely with the project team to get them up to speed with the full cohort.
Webinars added to support the project cohort
As a complement to the workshops and mentoring activities, a series of webinars are being developed to help the project cohort deepen their understanding of financing strategies and operational models. The first of these took place on October 10, touching on different mechanisms for land management. The following webinars will address:
November 7: Investors' view of financing sustainable infrastructure projects
November 14: Operational models for sustainable infrastructure projects
November 21: Green bonds
November 28: Co-benefits and costs avoided from sustainable water management
The fifth workshop will be held in Mérida, Yucatán, on December 6th. The sixth and seventh workshops will continue into 2020 in Cancun and Xalapa, prior to the final event in Mexico City in April 2020.