MOP launches second tender package for 1.2 billion pesos for public works

This is an automatic translation of the original release, issued in Spanish

PRESS RELEASE from the Ministry of Public Works of Chile
August 2024

For this second semester, the Minister of Public Works, Jessica López, announced a plan of more than 480 tenders for works, studies and consultancies for an amount of 1.2 billion pesos. Of these tenders, more than 270 correspond to the Directorate of Roads for more than 700 billion pesos, followed by the Directorate of Hydraulic Works and the Subdirectorate of Rural Sanitary Services, with more than 80 contracts totaling more than 150 billion pesos.

  The Minister of Public Works, Jessica López, met today with more than 150 companies from the construction industry to whom she presented the portfolio of projects that the MOP will tender during the remainder of the year. These are works that the MOP executes with its investment budget and do not include the Concessions portfolio.

In front of the businessmen, Minister López highlighted that there are 488 tenders for works, studies and consultancies that together will mean an investment of 1.2 million pesos by the ministry.

“This activity is very important for us because we are launching the second package of tenders for the Ministry's projects throughout Chile and in all the directorates, and at the same time we are reporting on the Ministry's performance in relation to the package of tenders that was launched last March. We are performing well, executing our budget well, improving our external processes, making regulatory changes that allow us to improve the execution processes and our relationship with our contractors,” said Minister López.

Of the tenders announced, 47 correspond to the Architecture Directorate for a total of 172 billion; 32 to the Hydraulic Works Directorate for an amount of 37 billion; 81 to the Rural Sanitary Services Subdirectorate for more than 150 billion; 34 initiatives of the Port Works Directorate for 65 billion; 22 tenders of the Airports Directorate for 64 billion, and 272 of the Roads Directorate for more than 700 billion.

Among the outstanding projects to be tendered this semester, Minister López highlighted the tender for the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center in the Metropolitan Region; the conservation of the runway at the Teniente Marsh airfield in the Chilean Antarctic; the improvement of Route R-86, in the Los Sauces-Traiguén sector, in the Araucanía Region; the replacement of the San José del Carmen High School in the O'Higgins Region; riverbank conservation works and fiscal irrigation works throughout the country; the conservation of the coastal edge and coves of Easter Island; and the improvement and expansion of the El Rosario Rural Drinking Water System, among others.

In this regard, the minister stressed that the immediate impact of this tender plan is the creation of jobs. “In some cases, the impact is quite rapid, such as in the case of tenders for studies. These studies generate employment. It is probably highly qualified employment, in engineering, in citizen participation, in environmental aspects, etc. And there are also tenders for works, where the employment is construction employment itself, which is much more widespread.”

The Minister of Public Works also reviewed the first package of tenders presented last March, highlighting that 680 had been committed and 740 were finally carried out for a total of 1.6 billion.

In this regard, he stressed that although the number of unsuccessful tenders has decreased significantly, it is still a concern for the ministry. “We are carrying out a very detailed review of this. We understand that the budgets after the pandemic period and the economic situation and the economic imbalance that we are experiencing have not yet normalized, therefore, we understand that companies want to protect their financial situation and, therefore, incorporate a greater financial cushion of protection.”