Chile's Ministry of Public Works has revealed that work on the Vespucio Oriente highway will now cost US$2 billion.
March 1, 2012
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906 Chile's Ministry of Public Works has revealed that work on the Vespucio Oriente highway will now cost US$2 billion. The complexity of the project is the cause for the cost increase. The tender process for the project should commence by mid-2012. The project will be for a 13km length and much of it will run underground, with the route crossing seven districts. Work is expected to begin in 2014.
Much of the necessary funding has now been secured for construction of the first section of Chile’s Americo Vespucio Oriente (AVO 1) highway. A loan package worth US$832 million is being provided jointly by a number of funding bodies. These are; Banco Estado, Bci and Banco de Chile. In all the project is expected to cost $984 million. The construction work is being carried out by a consortium comprising Sacyr and Aleatica (formely OHL Concesiones).
The Chilean authorities have had to re-launch the tender process for the 187km La Serena – Vallenar highway project. A consortium, Azvi-Copasa, originally won the tender for the project in 2010 but struggled to find the necessary financing. As a result, Chile's Ministry of Public Works (MOP) has been forced to restart the tendering process and open the project for bidding once more.
