Roundup: Uruguay rail PPP, Chile dam studies, Bolivia highway

Uruguay’s US$1.1bn Central rail line will be inaugurated on April 16, but full operations will start only in late May.

A recent first test run involved only cellulose. Tests with fully loaded cargo trains, including chemical products and fuel, have yet to begin, transport ministry adviser Luis Ceiter told Radio Uruguay.

The 254km freight train, operated as a PPP, will run between Montevideo and Paso Los Toros in Durazno department, and mainly serve Finnish firm UPM’s second pulp mill in the country.

Dam concession

Chile's public works ministry (MOP) launched a studies tender for the US$335mn Zapallar dam concession.

The 90.8mn-peso (US$95,890) studies contract involves updating the water resource estimate of the area, taking into consideration the effects of climate change. The most recent estimates are from 2021, according to the tender documents.

Technical proposals will be opened on April 22 and bids a week later. Documents can be seen here, in Spanish.

A tender for the concession of the 80mn cubic meter infrastructure is expected to be launched this year. The dam will supply the municipalities of San Ignacio and El Carmen in Ñuble region.

Highway tender

The Gran Chaco-Villa Montes regional government will soon launch a tender for the 30km Isiri-La Central section of the bioceanic highway in Bolivia’s Tarija department.

Works have been halted since 2018. In 2015, required investment was estimated at US$32mn.

A contract to update the studies was awarded to Lapacho last year.

The update is being reviewed by national highway authority ABC, regional public works secretary Horacio Vargas told state news agency ABI. A tender will be launched once the revised study is approved.

A previous studies contract was rescinded in 2022 after it emerged that one winning firm faced legal problems.