The reform of the law of the National Workers' Housing Fund Institute (Infonavit) involves the creation of a subsidiary construction company that, according to Eduardo Ramírez Leal, general secretary of Concamin, could promote the subcontracting of small construction companies despite the outsourcing prohibition.
Ramírez Leal expressed his concern about the lack of transparency in the institute regarding housing construction. Estimates suggest that an investment of more than 58 billion pesos annually will be required to build around 500,000 homes at a cost of 700,000 pesos each.
The general secretary of Concamin pointed out that the risk lies in the possibility that existing companies in the country could be sub-contracted in an unclear manner, which could negatively impact the business environment. Additionally, the possibility of consolidated purchases is considered, which would limit the participation of smaller companies in the construction process.
The administration of the fund, which amounts to about 2.4 trillion pesos, poses a possible risk for about 800 billion pesos from the workers' accounts. There is uncertainty regarding how these funds will be used by the new Infonavit contractor.
In this context, the labor and employer sector represented by the Employers' Confederation of the Mexican Republic (Coparmex) and the Mexican Regional Workers' Confederation (CROM) have expressed their concern. The approval of the reform in the Senate of the country is expected to define the course of actions to be taken, which may include complaints to the International Labour Organization (ILO) and protests from more than 2 million workers.
Additionally, supervision and auditing by the Ministry of Finance and the National Banking and Securities Commission of all the institute's operations is requested to ensure the proper management of funds and resources.
