The Mexican government has awarded a toll-road concession to construction firm IDEAL for a $307.6m (4 billion pesos) road project in the north-western state of Sinaloa.

The 30-year concession involves building, operating and maintaining 242km of Pacifico Norte road network, linking the cities of Culiacan and Mazatlan.

The concession includes work on a 22km bypass around Culiacan, a 38km bypass around Mazatlan and an existing 181km highway connecting the two cities.

The Pacifico Norte concession is part of the Mexico City-Nogales corridor, which includes a branch to the border city of Tijuana.

The project is expected to improve long-distance transportation in the area and reduce travel costs.