Mexico City, May 23 (IANS): Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has announced his administration's plan to launch a program to provide temporary work visas to Central Americans.

Mexico needs extra "manpower" for large-scale infrastructure projects such as a train route through the southeast Mayan region, the President said a press conference.

"We lack manpower for the projects," Xinhua news agency quoted Lopez Obrador as saying to reporters at the National Palace in Mexico City.

"This week I am going to present a program for our Central American brothers so they can have temporary visas to work on public projects in Mexico, so they can stay in our country legally with temporary work visas," he said.

Mexico is in particular need of welders and engineers, he added.

Lopez Obrador's administration, which came to power in December 2018, has sought to reduce the flow of undocumented migrants, mainly from Central America, who intend to traverse Mexico to reach the US.

As the US tightens immigration policy, many migrants find themselves languishing in Mexico.