SANTIAGO – Spanish infrastructure specialist Ferrovial Agroman has won a €270m (£241m) contract to build the Rutas del Loa road project, in Chile’s Atacama region, a region often referred to as the driest on earth.
The project involves widening a 111km stretch of Route 25 from a two to a four-lane road, and the construction of a 25km bypass around the town of Calama, linking several roads. The focal feature of the project is a 345m viaduct over the River Loa.
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Ferrovial said in a press release that one of the main challenges posed by the project is to minimize the impact on rail services and utilities that run alongside the road. The utilities include water mains and gas pipelines, as well as telecommunications and electricity lines. The company will work closely with the Ministry of Public Works and the affected utilities to seek solutions.
The completed infrastructure be managed by Intervial Chile under a 40-year concession.
The company will also erect a new 14-story building for the University of Chile for €49 million.
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Ferrovial’s construction subsidiary is firmly established in Chile since 1996, where it has participated in projects such as the Santiago Metro.
Ferrovial Agroman played a leading role in building Santiago Metro line 6, which was inaugurated in December 2017: it built 3,000 meters of tunnel and seven of the ten stations. It is currently building the Universidad de Chile station, on line 3, and new accesses to the Tobalaba station, on line 4.
Additionally, in 2016, Ferrovial acquired Transchile, which owns a 204-kilometer power transmission line.
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