Environmental evaluation, maritime concessions cited as desal bottlenecks in Chile

Environmental evaluation and maritime concessions are the biggest bottlenecks for desalination projects in Chile despite the high interest in the arid north, according to Fernándo Velázquez, development manager at water and sanitary services concessionaire Econssa.

Slow evaluations have been a widespread complaint but maritime concessions, which are granted by the armed forces undersecretary, “are a black box that no one understands,” Velázquez told BNamericas after his presentation at the Desalination Latin America Congress held by Vostock Capital.

A desalination bill in the senate would allow water regulator DGA to grant the concessions but only after receiving approval from the armed forces.

Velázquez said there have been prior attempts to modify the mechanism, “but no one understands what’s happening there and it takes a lot of time.”

He said it takes six or seven years to develop a desalination project in Chile, in a best case scenario, and that the US$250mn plant that was opened in January in Atacama region (pictured) took nearly a decade.

Despite this, Velázquez said there is still interest to develop new plants in the north, particularly in Coquimbo region.

When asked by BNamericas about future projects, the executive clarified that Econssa doesn’t have a portfolio of its own, but instead water utilities listed as its operators are the ones coming forward with projects in the pre-investment phase. 

These operators are:

Aguas del Altiplano (Arica y Parinacota and Tarapacá regions)
 Aguas Antofagasta (Antofagasta region)
 Tratacal (Calama municipality in Antofagasta)
 Nueva Atacama (Atacama region)
 Aguas del Valle (Coquimbo region)
 Nuevosur (Maule region)
 Aguas Araucanía (Araucanía region)
 Aguas Magallanes (Magallanes region)