Chile ends H1 with US$13.6bn infra, water investments under environmental review

Chile’s environmental evaluation service SEA has 27 transport, port and water infrastructure projects worth US$13.6 billion under evaluation review as of the end of the first half of 2024.

Of these, eight are transport infrastructure proposals involving projected investments of US$3.23bn, while seven projects worth US$4.47bn are for ports and 12 submissions entail water infrastructure, costing an estimated US$5.85bn, according to the SEA database. 

The oldest project under review is terminal 2 at Valparaiso port (US$500mn), although that is because the original approval, issued in 2018, was partially reversed in a court ruling that pushed back the proposal to the evaluation stage and requested an additional report with clarifications, which was finally submitted last week.

Aside from that specific case, all projects under review date back to 2020 at the earliest.

The five biggest projects under environmental evaluation at present are:

San Antonio large-scale port (US$4bn): Submitted in May 2020. Although evaluation procedures are suspended until the end of this year, as state port firm EPSA is working on responses to observations and to complement the project’s environmental impact study (EIS), a call for expressions of interest was issued in May for the port’s breakwater and auxiliary infrastructure works. 

EPSA told the senate’s environment committee earlier this month that 58 firms participated in the process.

The project involves building two docks of 1,730m each, four terminals – two on land and another two on an outer harbor – and the 4km breakwater. Once completed, the port is expected to be able to handle 6mn TEUs annually. 

Copiapó river flood control works (US$523mn): Submitted in August 2021. Evaluation procedures are currently suspended until August 7 after a request from the public works ministry (MOP) for additional time to respond to observations, documents show.

The project entails flood control works on 46km of the Copiapó river, which burst its banks in 2015 following heavy rains in the normally arid Atacama region.

The works are mainly aimed at raising the river banks to deal with sudden increases in water levels. 

Aguas Marítimas (US$5bn): Submitted in March 2022, it is the largest water infrastructure project under assessment. An amended EIS was presented in March 2024 and the SEA is in the process of receiving observations to the modifications.

The project involves a desalination facility close to the city of Antofagasta with production capacity of 700,000m³/d. This is expected to provide water for both human and industrial consumption.

Other components include four water intakes with capacity for 420,000m³/d each, 18 pumping stations, a pipeline capable of emitting 985,000m³/d and a 480km aqueduct that would transport the treated water to distribution centers.

Merval extension to Quillota and La Calera (US$680mn): Submitted by state-owned rail firm EFE in May 2022, assessment is currently suspended until August 30 as EFE requested additional time to respond to observations.

The project involves expanding the Metro system in Valparaíso (Merval) to the municipalities of Quillota and La Calera on a 26km line with five new stations.

Santiago Metro line No. 9 (US$1.95bn): Submitted in November 2023, assessment is currently suspended until August 1 following a request from operator Metro de Santiago for more time to respond to observations.

The project consists of an 18.6km underground line with 14 stations that will link La Pintana, San Ramón, San Joaquín, La Granja, San Miguel, Santiago, Recoleta and Independencia districts in capital Santiago. 

The new line will also have combinations with existing lines No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 6, and No. 4A, as well as line No. 7 that is currently under construction.

It is estimated that this will benefit 1.3mn users.

The long delays related to environmental evaluations and other reviews have been the subject of growing criticisms, which prompted the government to submit two bills to reform these systems earlier this year.

Some of the proposed changes to the environmental review process include reducing red tape and incentivizing early citizen participation processes to avoid conflicts further down the line.