Following the official award, last 23 August, of the Camino Nogales-Puchuncaví concession, in the Valparaíso Region, Chile’s Ministry of Public Works has authorized the commissioning of activity in OHL Concesiones’s new toll road in Chile, where operation of the existing infrastructure, along with collection of toll fees, began on 1 September.

As a result, the Minister of Public Works, Alberto Undurraga, presided an official act in the city of Valparaíso, with regional authorities and executives of OHL Concesiones Chile, to start up development of the project.

Publication of the Supreme Decree of Award in Chile’s Official Journal has ended a re-tendering process where four competing proposals were made; the winner was OHL Concesiones Chile, with an investment of €206 million (US$231 million).

The new concession, summing up a total of 43 km, foresees improvement works in the current two-way road, 27 km long, as well as the construction of 16 extra km for the Puchuncaví bypass and the Ventanas detour, which will help reduce traveling times and increase road safety.

Raúl Vitar will head the team in charge of the project and will also be the senior executive of the infrastructure’s new concessionaire company, currently being incorporated. Until the new company is incorporated, OHL Concesiones Chile will appear as awardee.

Camino Nogales-Puchuncaví, originally tendered in 1995, represents one of the founding infrastructures of Chile’s concessions system. The growth registered in the region and development of the Ventanas industrial area, with a consequent increase in heavy vehicle traffic, made it necessary to update the road in order to respond to growing traffic demands, decongest local traffic flow and guarantee road user safety.

The maximum term for the new concession is 38 years and the most outstanding features of the new works and infrastructure improvement are the following:

• New works:
  • Puchuncaví bypass, a double road 7 km long.
  • Ventanas detour, a two-way 9 km road.
  • Three new viaducts in Nogales, Pucalán and Puchuncaví.
• Improvement of the existing infrastructure:
  • Splitting of the road along most of its route.
  • Overpasses, lighting and landscaping included.
  • Access branch roads, updating of retaining components and new cattle tracks.
  • Bicycle lane, six new footbridges and bus stops.