MOP receives two offers for a new concession of Route 5 Santiago - Los Vilos that will represent an investment close to US$1,275 million

Statement from the Ministry of Public Works of Chile

This is an automated translation of the press release issued in Spanish

The Ministry of Public Works reported that it received a total of two offers for the Second Concession Route 5 Santiago-Los Vilos section project, a work that will improve connectivity between the Metropolitan, Valparaíso and Coquimbo regions, and will benefit an estimated population of 800,00 people.

The companies that submitted offers correspond to Vías Chile and Sacyr . The next step in this bidding process will be on August 14 when the financial offers are known and then, during the fourth quarter of this year, it is planned to award the work.

Continuing with the deadlines, the start of construction is expected to be the fourth quarter of 2028 to deliver all the works by the end of 2031. It should be noted that the project in its construction stage is expected to generate around 7,300 jobs monthly average.

“We are happy to see how the bidding process for this great work is progressing, which will allow us to improve connectivity, service and safety, for all the people who travel along this section of Route 5 and also for those who live around this route. . This is also good news for strengthening the public-private alliance, the economy and job creation,” highlighted the Minister of Public Works, Jessica López.

“This was the first call for bids made during the government of President Gabriel Boric and adds to the portfolio of new concessions that we are currently promoting. We have 24 projects planned to call for bidding between now and the end of the Government, for a figure of US$17,000 million dollars,” explained the highest authority of the MOP.

For his part, the General Director of Concessions, Juan Manuel Sánchez, along with highlighting the interest expressed by the bidders, pointed out that “this work is extremely important because it increases road safety with new structures for the benefit of users and the community by provide, for example, more walkways, cycle lanes and service streets. It also contemplates significant reductions in the values of tolls such as Pichidangui and El Melón.”

  The project, which considers an investment of 1,275 million dollars (UF 28,288,000), involves a section of Route 5 that begins at km 10.8 and that corresponds to the northern exit of Santiago, in the commune of Quilicura and that It ends in the commune of Los Vilos (km 229.1). The new concession incorporates the El Melón tunnel.

Among the main milestones of this project are 10.7 km of expansion from three to four lanes in each direction, between the Buenaventura interchange and the Batuco-Liray interchange, and 102 km of expansion from two to three lanes in each direction, from Batuco-Liray to the southern link of the El Melón Tunnel, this also includes the La Calavera Tunnel.

On the other hand, 85 km of route rectifications are contemplated to bring the route to a travel speed of 100 and 120 km/hr. Likewise, the service streets that currently have a granular solution will be replaced by an asphalt solution and together with this a total of 85 km of new service streets and a total of 15 new links will be built that, together with the service streets, will allow better connectivity for all the communities that live around the route of Route 5, the improvement of existing links is also considered, highlighting the improvement of the La Montaña link that is located at the northern exit of Santiago.

The project also includes 19 new bridges and 31 new pedestrian walkways and the replacement of 38 existing walkways in compliance with universal accessibility regulations, as well as bus stops and pedestrian circuits. At the same time, to provide better service to road users, two new general service areas (for heavy vehicles) will be built and the existing service areas will be expanded, in addition 10 new sales areas for typical products of the areas crossed by the project and two interprovincial bus stops at the northern exit of Santiago.

Free flow gantries will also be incorporated that will be located in the same places where toll plazas exist today, with the only exception of the Las Vegas toll plaza that will be moved before the La Calavera Tunnel.

Among the benefits of this work is a reduction in travel times by providing additional lanes and improving the geometry of the route, as well as a reduction in accidents by channeling local trips through service streets.

It should be noted that as a result of the project, 84 citizen participation activities were carried out in the years 2021, 2022 and 2023, which brought together approximately 2,350 people.