Chiloé bridge tender timetable pushed back, again

Chile's public works ministry has pushed back the submission of offers to build the Chiloé Island bridge in southern Region X to December, an official from the ministry's concessions department confirmed to BNamericas. Although technical and economic offers were to have been received Tuesday (Aug.17), the ministry granted an extension after interested groups requested more time, said the official. Interested groups are the Challengers consortium, made up of Bouygues, Egis, Travaux Publics, Cleveland, Delta and IHI, and the Consorcio Puente Bicentenario consortium made up of Hochtief, American Bridge, Besalco and Tecsa. The official said technical offers would be opened in December, and economic offers in January. Earlier this year, the finance ministry approved a new business model for the US$350mn concession project whereby the government acts as guarantor. For the government to act as guarantor, bidders will have to carry out new geological studies, and if the project proves technically feasible, detailed engineering studies will have to be provided. The project entails building a 2.64km four-lane traffic bridge across the Chacao channel to Chiloé, as well as 13.5km of access roads on either side of the channel. Chiloé has some 50,000 permanent inhabitants and receives heavy tourist traffic in the summer months. The concessionaire would operate the bridge for 40 years, recouping investment through tolls. Studies in 2002 estimated that some 3,000 vehicles/day would initially use the bridge, reaching 15,000 in 2040.