Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Over the past decade, Mexico's manufacturing output has steadily increased, especially in the automotive, auto parts and electronic sectors. According to AMIA, the association of Mexican automotive producers, Mexico has become the world's seventh-largest automotive manufacturer in the world, and the fourth-largest vehicle exporter.

Mexico's output and exports will continue to expand as manufacturers from around the world - including Daimler, BMW, Hyundai/Kia and Nissan - flock to build new plants in the country. From January through June 2015, the number of vehicles assembled in Mexico grew by 21.9%, from the same period in 2014.

And yet Mexico currently ranks 64 of 148 countries in terms of infrastructure, according to the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum. Economists agree that Mexico's prospects for becoming a truly industrial economy will remain limited unless the country accelerates its construction of the roads, railroads, ports, energy plants and other physical infrastructure essential in any modern industrial economy.

According to Barbara Kotschwar, research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington: "Now is the moment for Mexico to get serious about its infrastructure. Latin America is woefully under funded in terms of its infrastructure, and studies cite its infrastructure weakness as a major reason for Latin American underdevelopment."

With that goal in mind, the Mexican government last year published its National Infrastructure Program for 2014-2018, a comprehensive array of projects that would cost the public and private sectors a combined total of about $600 billion.

Under the umbrella of the program, Mexico expects to upgrade not only its transportation sector, but also its communications networks, along with its energy sector - including power, oil and gas - water; health care; urban development and housing, and the infrastructure for tourism.

What are the prospects that implementation of the program might wind up falling short of its ambitious goals? Observers note that with oil prices continuing to weaken, Mexico's public sector may not be able to adequately fund key elements of the program. Also, they question whether the country has the organizational capacity to pull off such an ambitious plan.

But others see the plan as having enormous potential. According to a report by Mexico-based researchers at the law firm Baker and McKenzie, "There is no doubt [about] the relevance and the deep and long-term impact of the program. The development of infrastructure is a key element to increase the quality of life and, at the same time, an essential ingredient to achieve economic growth."

Based on the 743 investment programs and projects that are being contemplated, and an estimated investment of $594 billion between the public and private sectors, "the program is the most ambitious ever launched in Mexico," the report noted.

As a means of boosting Mexico's global competitiveness, the federal government announced recently that it is investing an additional $5 billion in its network of 117 ports, including the construction of four new terminals in Veracruz.

Guillermo Ruiz de Teresa, coordinator of Mexico's agency for ports and merchant marine, said that the new investments reflect "our conviction that a system of total distribution, with each logistical chain of a high level, both within the country and beyond our borders, is the best way of functioning."

In some respects, however, the infrastructure plan may turn out to be insufficient, even if it achieves its near-term targets. Some observers have voiced doubts that growth in Mexican manufacturing exports will be forced to slow as a result of congestion in the country's ports even if the ambitious port-infrastructure goals of the plan are ultimately realized.

According to Carlos Serrano, chief economist of Mexico-based BBVA Bancomer, “Until now, Mexico has managed to attract more [foreign] investment" despite the weakness in its ports, railroads and highways. "But it will reach a point at which, if the infrastructure does not improve, people will start to think that Mexico's steady progress is at risk."