President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo has officially launched the first 15 Polos de Desarrollo Económico para el Bienestar (PODECOBI), or Economic Development Hubs for Wellbeing, as part of the ambitious Plan México. Spread across 14 Mexican states, the initiative aims to generate 300,000 formal jobs in key sectors including industry, services, and tourism, with an investment equivalent to 1.5% of the national GDP.
During the project’s unveiling, Sheinbaum emphasized that these hubs are designed to strategically attract investment while improving quality of life. Each development zone will include housing, hospitals, and schools to ensure balanced and sustainable urban growth. “We want industrial zones to also offer a good quality of life for workers,” she stated.
The development hubs will be located in the states of Campeche, Chihuahua, Durango, State of Mexico, Guanajuato, Hidalgo (with two hubs), Michoacán, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, and Veracruz. Starting in August, plots will be allocated to private companies through bidding processes, paving the way for industrial installations.
Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón announced that companies operating in these hubs will receive attractive tax incentives, including full 100% deduction on machinery and equipment investments, a 25% additional deduction for dual-training programs, and another 25% for innovation and R&D projects. Key sectors targeted include agribusiness, energy, semiconductors, automotive, aerospace, circular economy, and medical devices.
During the official event, Letters of Intent and coordination agreements were signed between the federal government and the participating state governments. Governors from the designated states celebrated the opportunity to transform their regions into next-generation industrial centers. The legal declarations formalizing the hubs will soon be published in Mexico’s Official Gazette (Diario Oficial de la Federación).
