Chinese firm submits best offer for US$274mn hospital concession in Chile

This is a machine translation of the original ministry of public works release in Spanish.

Today the bid opening act was held for the Coquimbo hospital concession, which includes an investment of UF 6,528,211 (approximately US$274 million) for the replacement of a highly complex hospital in the district and region of the same name. The offer from Grupo CRCC Chile was the most favorable for the state, since it considered a fixed subsidy for construction (SFC) of UF 421,168 and a fixed subsidy for operation (SFO) of UF 135,700.

For this concession, which considers a 15-year term of operation, four offers were presented on January 10, including, in addition to the winner, those of Obrascón Huarte Lain, Agencia en Chile , Consorcio Sacyr and Acciona Hospital Concessions. Now the administrative procedures are beginning to be able to award this work during the first quarter of this year, which would allow the construction stage to begin in the second half of 2023, generating a peak of 2,200 direct jobs per month. The entry into operation of the new Coquimbo hospital is estimated for 2027.

The general director (acting) of concessions, Luis Felipe Elton, highlighted the great benefit that the construction of two concession hospitals in the Coquimbo region will mean. “Currently this region is the one with the greatest deficit of hospital beds in the country, hence the importance of the Coquimbo hospital and the La Serena hospital, which is currently in the stage of being awarded to Acciona Concesiones Hospitalarias, since it will allow the normalization of bed coverage. In the specific case of the Coquimbo hospital, 605 beds will be available, including 72 critical patient beds, in addition to 22 wards. Together with the 668 beds that the La Serena hospital will provide, a total of 1,273 new beds will be available for the region.”

The new Coquimbo hospital will replace the current facility and provide highly complex care to nearly 723,000 inhabitants of the districts of Coquimbo and Andacollo, in addition to those of Illapel, Salamanca, Canela and Los Vilos, belonging to the province of Choapa.

The facility will have an area of 132,000 m2 and 605 beds, distributed among 457 basic and intermediate care beds, 72 critical patient beds, 18 rehabilitation beds, 24 pension beds and 34 mental health beds. Likewise, it will have 22 wards; 85 boxes for medical, dental and non-medical consultations; six comprehensive childbirth care rooms and an emergency service, among others.

This concession is part of the second concession program for health establishments in which, to date, bids have been called for 18 of the 19 hospitals promised by this administration, with three projects awarded so far, which are the Maule network (Cauquenes, Constitución and Parral), Buin-Paine and the Biobío network (Santa Bárbara, Nacimiento, Coronel and Lota).