Antofagasta: Minister López announces investment of 85 billion pesos in new works on Route 24, part of the Bioceanic Corridor

Statement from the Ministry of Public Works of Chile

This is an automated translation of the press release issued in Spanish

This morning the Minister of Public Works, Jessica López, together with the regional governor of Antofagasta, Ricardo Díaz; to the provincial delegate of Tocopilla, Rachel Cortés; and the mayors of Tocopilla, Ljubica Kurtovic, and María Elena, Omar Norambuena, announced the details of the road improvement project for Route 24. This route is part of the Bioceanic Road Corridor that will link the south of Brazil by land with ports in northern Chile, in particular Antofagasta, Iquique and Mejillones, passing through Paraguay and Argentina, which was highlighted by President Gabriel Boric on his last visit to Paraguay.

The visit of the Secretary of State is also part of her participation in the first session of the High Level Commission for the Development of the Bioceanic Road Corridor, an entity headed by the Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism , Nicolás Grau. Additionally, together with the GORE, the MOP is working on the development of an important programming agreement for road works throughout the region.

Minister López pointed out that “this tour is part of how the State of Chile moves decisively to realize what we have called the Bioceanic Road Corridor. It is a dream of many decades that the government is determined to push. This project has many aspects, one is roads, in which the Ministry of Public Works has been advancing in different lines. One of them are these new works to improve Route 24 by at least 50 kilometers next year and another 25 kilometers in 2028. More than 85,000 million for the works and maintenance of the three sections of Route 24 that connects Tocopilla with Calama , crossing Route 5, so it is a great work, very important, which ultimately testifies that the Ministry of Public Works is on top of many routes to improve the road situation in Chile."

For his part, Governor Díaz highlighted “the responsibility that elected authorities have to manage solutions to the problems that we face in the region. What we have promoted is how we can generate, through Road Investment, that this route continues, that it is improved and that capacity is increased. We are going to do a two-way study, in conjunction with MOP, to improve the conditions of this route. But the good news is that we are going to generate a programming agreement to improve the entire road architecture of our region. We need better roads, we need better routes. So that? “So that the bioceanic corridor reaches all the communes in the region.”

Finally, the mayor of María Elena thanked “the presence of the regional government and also the Minister of Public Works, who has come to give us a preview of the works that will be generated. It is important to say the progress that comes with making decisions even when resources are limited. I also want to thank the region for this commitment. This point is important because it transitions to high loads with large mining. And it is also the obligatory step from the first to the second region and to the rest of the country. Therefore, we also need to have greater coverage regarding the roads and greater security.”

Among the projects that stand out are the new works on the Colupo – Barriles section, which will be executed in 2025 (25 kilometers for 43 billion), the Cuesta Montecristo – Chuquicamata section, which will be executed in 2025 (22 kilometers for 29,300 million), and the Crucero – Colupo section, which will be executed in 2028 (currently in the design stage) for more than 11,640 million in 25 kilometers.