The Minister of Public Works, Jessica López, arrived in the city of Antofagasta to meet with the regional governor, Ricardo Díaz, to lead the signing of the works programming agreement to enhance the Capricorn Bioceanic Corridor. The approved amount, through the agreement, will allow for an investment -over 10 years- of 600 billion pesos; that is, 639 million dollars.
The agreement aims to coordinate, plan, and jointly execute initiatives for investment in enabling public infrastructure, which will allow for the strengthening and modernization of the Capricorn Bioceanic Corridor, improving the territorial, logistical, and productive connectivity of the Antofagasta Region.
Minister López emphasized the importance of “this agreement for the programming of the execution of projects focused on the development of the Bioceanic Corridor. I thank the governor for helping us and working to build this plan of projects worth 595 billion pesos, to finance it and begin developing these projects which aim to strengthen these works.”
“It includes the improvement of routes and the incorporation of a set of helicopter lodging points, which are part of our connectivity and safety system. All aimed at improving and strengthening the development of this great project which is not only regional, but national, because it has the great dream of allowing our coasts in northern Chile to be the departure point for products from southern Brazil and northern Argentina towards Asian destinations. A tremendous opportunity for all the countries that make up this corridor and for Chile as the axis of this development,” concluded the head of the MOP.
For his part, Governor Díaz stated that “in this agreement that links the Regional Government with the MOP to generate these works, we are thinking about how we avoid congestion, how we build cities that are more linked with cargo; that cargo does not mean damage to people’s quality of life; that there are also new spaces for truck drivers to rest and also for communities to generate new opportunities for economic development.”
Finally, the Regional Ministerial Secretary of Public Works, Pedro Barrios, affirmed that “we are already working on this agreement with the development of works, such as the case of Route 23, at the entrance to San Pedro de Atacama; the Calama Bypass and Route 24, which from the Chuquicamata crossing to the Cuesta de Montecristo will have all its roadways renovated. Furthermore, we will install five lodging points along the entire route from Jama to Tocopilla.”
The Bioceanic Corridor considers an extension of more than 2,400 kilometers of routes in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay, consolidating a commercial corridor between these countries that strengthens economies, through the generation of new commercial and logistical opportunities, with savings in time and kilometers in the transport of export goods.
In all, the approval of this agreement will allow for an investment of nearly 600 billion pesos over 10 years for the development of road, logistical, service, and control infrastructure. The MOP contributes 56.93% of the total programmed investment in this new agreement with the Regional Government, the largest in the country, to provide better infrastructure and enhance the Capricorn Bioceanic Corridor, through the departments of Highways, Airports, and Planning of the ministry.
