Latin America’s $65 Billion Transport Pipeline Puts Smarter Infrastructure in Focus

Latin America and the Caribbean needs to invest about 3.5% of its gross domestic product every year through 2030 to close its infrastructure gap, representing more than $1.6 trillion in total requirements, including over $630 billion for transportation.

More than 110 transport investment projects worth over $65 billion were presented at the LAC Transport Forum 2026, bringing government representatives from 17 Latin American and Caribbean countries together with private-sector leaders to discuss opportunities over the next 18 months. The pipeline matches the region's entire annual investment in transport infrastructure, giving the gathering significance beyond the size of any individual project. Organised by the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group), the Forum focused on mobilising capital and improving the scale, quality and impact of investments that could strengthen connectivity, competitiveness and regional integration.

A $65 billion pipeline meets a much larger infrastructure need

Latin America and the Caribbean needs to invest about 3.5% of its gross domestic product every year through 2030 to close its infrastructure gap, representing more than $1.6 trillion in total requirements, including over $630 billion for transportation. Finding that money is only part of the challenge, as IDB estimates suggest inefficiencies in investment processes cost the region one out of every two dollars allocated to infrastructure. Those losses make the way projects are planned, assessed and delivered as important as the funding committed to them.

"We can improve the performance of infrastructure investments by up to 35% without increasing public spending. The goal is more and better infrastructure, and greater impact for people," IDB Group President Ilan Goldfajn said at the opening ceremony. The Forum was organised for the first time in partnership with the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, a global leader in infrastructure standards, putting project quality alongside capital mobilisation at the centre of discussions.

Governments and companies work through investment opportunities

One of the region's largest-ever rounds of meetings between governments and companies gave participants space to discuss the transport pipeline and opportunities to accelerate investment. The 17 participating countries were Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Suriname. With projects covering the next 18 months, the discussions connected public investment priorities with companies and investors interested in helping deliver them.

The IDB Group's Miami office promotes gatherings such as the LAC Transport Forum and strengthens relationships between governments, investors and businesses interested in infrastructure development across Latin America and the Caribbean. These connections support efforts to increase private-sector participation, with the projects presented at the Forum intended to improve transport links and help the region's economies become more competitive and better integrated.

Transport Delivers puts procurement and project quality in focus

The IDB Group launched Transport Delivers, a regional platform designed to improve the quality, transparency and competitiveness of transport investment processes through stronger planning, bidding and contracting. It will support the implementation and expansion of the bank's Procure+ reforms across infrastructure projects, helping countries make better use of available funding. The figures presented underline the value of procurement reform: each additional bidder reduces prices by an average of 2% to 8%, and assessing quality alongside price reduces an infrastructure asset's total lifetime cost by 5% to 20%.

Spain and Japan have contributed a combined $2.5 million to Transport Delivers, which seeks another $10 million from donors over the next five years to improve the conditions for approximately $20 billion in transportation investments. That support is intended to strengthen the processes surrounding investment, rather than cover the construction costs of the full pipeline. The platform forms part of BID for the Americas, the IDB Group initiative promoting greater private-sector participation in projects it finances, tying the push for more investment to practical improvements in how infrastructure is selected and delivered.