Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced that his government had reached an agreement with local billionaire Carlos Slim to buy a concession for part of a highway still under construction in the southern state of Oaxaca, Reuters reported.

“I am very grateful to Carlos Slim that we have reached an agreement in which the federal government will receive the concession given to him and on very good terms,” ​​López Obrador said in a speech in Oaxaca on Sunday, without specifying the cost. details

Slim controls major firms such as telecommunications giant America Movil and conglomerate Grupo Carso. He is on the board of directors of Ideal IDEALB1.MX, which is completing the construction of the highway branch from Mitla to Tehuantepec.

Representatives for Ideal and Mexico’s transportation ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The highway route, part of a larger section that leads to Oaxaca City, will be inaugurated on August 31, López Obrador said.

The president, who will leave office at the end of this year, has made infrastructure projects in Mexico’s historically poorer south a cornerstone of his administration.

He made the announcement at an event to inaugurate another section of the highway in the state of Oaxaca, where he also recently opened a coast-to-coast passenger train network.