Convento Viejo dam concession call expected this month

Chile's public works ministry expects to kick off bidding for the US$104mn Convento Viejo dam concession this month, according to Leonel Vivallos, project development and management director from the ministry's concessions department. Vivallos made the announcement Tuesday during a seminar held at the British Embassy in Santiago to showcase and update the ministry's US$1.93bn, 2003-2004 concessions portfolio. The 32m-high dam would be built 15km south of Chimbarongo, on the river of the same name in Region VI. The 230M cu. m reservoir would irrigate some 30,000ha, and has tourism and power-generation potential. Construction would include some 300km of irrigation network. Convento Viejo will be followed by projects for the Ancoa and Punilla dams, which would be put out to concession next year, he said. Ancoa, in Region VII, carries a US$34mn price tag and would be built on the Ancoa River near its confluence with the larger Maule River, while the US$130mn Punilla dam would be built on the Nuble River in Region VIII. Both are slated as multi-purpose dams. The first dam to be offered to the private sector under the concession scheme was the US$31mn, 25.5M cu. m El Bato dam on the Illapel river in Region IV, construction on which is expected to begin shortly. Sociedad Consecionaria Illapel, led by Brazil's Mendes Junior in partnership with local companies Sical Brunol and Ingecol, won the El Bato contract and will operate it under a 25-year concession.