Cotapata-Santa Barbara paving tender draws 9 offers

Nine offers have been submitted to Bolivia's national highway service SNC for a US$10mn contract to pave the 48.3km of the Cotapata-Santa Barbara highway under construction, El Diario reported. The bidders are Terra Ltda Consultora y Servicios, Alfa-Copesa-Minerva, Iasa-Apolo, Olmedo-Compacto, Socico RyR-SERPETBOL, Ingenieros Civiles Asociados (ICA), Emsa-Sudamericana, Quiroga Ltda y Asociados and Concordia-Convisa. The Andean Development Corporation (CAF) will provide US$7mn and La Paz department the remainder. Economic offers will be opened once technical offers have been reviewed. The works are slated to wrap up by mid-2004. The highway's total costs reach US$200mn, well above early estimates that did not account for geological faults found along the route. A construction consortium consisting of Bolivia's Copesa and Minerva and Brazil's Andrade Gutierrez is leading the project. Cotapata-Santa Barbara forms part of the north-south Victor Paz Estenssoro highway, designed to link Bolivia with Argentina and Brazil.