Spain's Grupo Cox to Invest $2.9 Billion in El Salvador, Including Over $600 Million for Water and Sanitation
Friday, 16 October 2026
El Salvador has signed an agreement with the Spanish multinational Grupo Cox for a $2.9 billion investment package covering energy, natural gas and water infrastructure, in what President Nayib Bukele described as the largest single investment in the country's history.
The agreement, signed in mid-October by Bukele and Grupo Cox chairman Enrique Riquelme, allocates more than $600 million to improving water resource management, sanitation and water infrastructure, alongside roughly $1.8 billion for natural gas infrastructure and at least $300 million for solar-powered energy storage. Grupo Cox, which the company says operates critical water and solar photovoltaic infrastructure in more than 30 countries, framed the deal as part of a broader push into Latin American utility markets.
Bukele told reporters the investment would help lower electricity rates "for the entire population" once a new Cox-built power plant comes online, and said the deal would act as "an enabler of other investments that are coming." Riquelme said Grupo Cox "wants to be part of El Salvador's success story." Neither official detailed specific water projects — such as new treatment plants, aqueduct expansions or desalination capacity — that the $600 million-plus water and sanitation allocation will fund, and further technical details are expected as the agreement moves toward implementation.
The announcement lands amid a broader regional push to shore up water infrastructure across Latin America. In Chile, the city of Antofagasta recently became the first Latin American city of more than 500,000 residents to be supplied entirely by desalinated seawater, following a $130 million expansion of the Northern Desalination Plant that lifted production to 1,436 litres per second for Antofagasta and the nearby city of Mejillones. Chilean officials have framed that project, along with an upcoming $350 million tender for a desalination plant in Coquimbo, as a direct response to the country's prolonged megadrought.
Across the region, governments and private investors have increasingly turned to large-scale water and desalination financing as a response to worsening drought, population growth and strained municipal systems — from Mexican coastal cities exploring seawater supply to multilateral lenders backing new treatment capacity. The El Salvador deal adds Central America to that trend, though its scale is unusual: $600 million for water and sanitation would represent a substantial single commitment for a country of El Salvador's size, exceeding typical multilateral financing packages for the sector in the region.
For now, the agreement remains a high-level commitment rather than a fully scoped construction program. Analysts and regional water-sector observers will be watching for the specific projects, timelines and contractors that emerge as Grupo Cox and the Salvadoran government translate the $2.9 billion framework into concrete infrastructure on the ground.