Lima airport's Santa Rosa bridge tender to be relaunched in November

The tender for the Santa Rosa bridge, which will be the main access to Lima’s upgraded airport, will be relaunched in November, a minister confirmed. 

The project (depicted below) will be in the port city of Callao, require 346mn soles (US$91mn) and will be developed via the works for taxes (OxI) mechanism – through which companies finance works in exchange for tax payments.

Transport and communications (MTC) minister Raúl Pérez Reyes, speaking at an event hosted by investment promotion agency ProInversión, said work will begin in January and conclude in December 2025.

The tender needed to be relaunched after no company submitted a bid in the first attempt at the end of July. At the time, the estimated capex was 475mn soles, and the project had to be built in 400 calendar days. 

According to transport undersecretary Ismael Sutta, the time will now be 720 days.

"The homes [within the area of influence of the project] are already 100% demolished, there are no problems regarding property or interference, and the electrical networks will be replaced when the works begin to guarantee lighting of the entire project area," said Sutta.

According to MTC, preliminary proposals from companies will be received this month, while the awarding of the contract will take place in November and the signing in December. The Santa Rosa project will consist of four works: construction of the 65m bridge, a roundabout, channeling works – the bridge will cross the Rímac River – and river defense works.

PORTFOLIO

The ministry hopes to tender four other projects via OxI in the medium term for 694mn of soles, and is mulling a fifth initiative presented by a company involving 495mn soles. There are already companies interested in developing them, the ministry says.

The first is the construction of the San Antonio bridge in Ayacucho region for 13.8mn soles. Mining company Hochschild is interested in building it, according to MTC. The company operates the Inmaculada gold mine in the same region.

The second project consists of the construction of the Pallar bridge in La Libertad region involving 76mn soles. Cement company Pacasmayo, the second largest in the region, is interested in developing it.

Another is the 7.5km access road to the future Chinchero international airport in Cusco region, which will require 446mn soles. The initiative has not yet been approved.

The fourth is section 2 of the Tacna-La Paz highway linking Peru with Bolivia, requiring 158mn soles, and miner Southern Copper is interested in developing it.

Finally, the MTC says PEX, a toll-road unit of French construction company Vinci Highways, proposed to the ministry building a new access to Lima airport – the Faucett-Morales Bermúdez interchange – which has been coordinated with ProInversión. The initiative is still in the initial stages and is estimated to cost 495mn soles.

"This amount will probably change, but we have great interest in developing this project.... I think it’s important to start working on it so that it happens as soon as possible," said Pérez Reyes.