A consortium of Mota-Engil of Portugal, state-owned China Communications Construction Co. Ltd and three Mexican companies is in the final shortlist of bidders to build the Mayan Train tourist railway in southeastern Mexico, the Global Construction Review website reports.

The website says the consortium is among 15 bidders in the shortlist drawn up by the Mexican tourism promotion agency, Fonatur, which will announce the winners today.

The report says the consortium has made a bid worth US$760 million to build the second stretch of the railway, which will run for 254 km across the state of Campeche.

Fonatur requires work on the Campeche stretch to begin on May 12 and be completed by 2022, the report says.

The Mayan Train tourist railway will run for 1,500 km across the Yucatán peninsula and cost US$6.7 billion to build, the Global Construction Review website says.