Chile fast-tracks US$5.4bn in investment projects for this year

A total of 54 projects involving investments of nearly US$5.4bn have been prioritized by the Chilean government, while a bill to speed up permitting is also advancing through congress, according to economy minister Nicolás Grau.

The projects were identified through regional investment workshops headed by President Gabriel Boric and other ministers in recent weeks. They involve initiatives that already have environmental approval, Grau said at an event. 

One such workshop was held this week in the Araucanía region of southern Chile, where authorities and private-sector representatives reviewed private investment projects entailing US$500mn to see which could be sped up and what bottlenecks stand in the way, said the public works ministry (MOP).

Grau highlighted that foreign direct investment reached US$21bn last year, the highest figure seen since 2014, continuing an upward trend that began in 2021. However, he added that this should not be seen as a reason to slow down the reforms to improve permitting processes.

“It’s the exact opposite. Our expectation as a government is that, for various reasons, Chile will enter a high cycle of investment, both foreign and domestic, and our main issue is for that investment to be made quickly,” Grau said during a seminar hosted by the Latin American economic and social policy center of Chile’s Universidad Católica (Clapes UC).

Grau’s ministry is currently pushing a bill aimed at streamlining the sectoral permitting system by creating a new agency that will supervise over 380 existing permitting procedures to ensure that legal deadlines are met, as well as promoting coordination between public agencies, issuing reports and statistics, and making recommendations on how to improve the system further. 

The bill has already been approved by the lower house economy committee and votes on the specific articles are expected to begin in May, Grau told BNamericas on the sidelines of the event.

“We have to go to the finance committee after that and then to a floor vote. We've always believed that, if we all work together and we maintain this spirit to accelerate investments, this is a bill that can effectively be passed this year,” he said.

The minister also highlighted that economic associations such as manufacturers’ guild Sofofa and mining association Sonami have backed the bill during congressional hearings and have also made suggestions to improve it.

At the same time, a separate bill to reduce environmental assessment times is being reviewed by the senate’s environment committee.

In terms of non-legislative changes, Grau said that in the case of the monuments council, another institution singled out for slow processing, it was declared that projects will no longer be entirely halted in the event of archeological finds, but works will only be stopped in the specific area of the discovery.