The Minister of Public Works, Alberto Undurraga, announced today that the bidding process will commence within the next two months for the 13.9 km binational Agua Negra tunnel in the Andes. 

The tunnel will be built 28% on Chilean territory and 72% on the Argentine side. It will link the Region Coquimbo in Chile with San Juan province in Argentina. This new route will improve transport connections, because the two existing routes are both subject to closures in bad weather and the high mountain pass is unsuitable for heavy vehicles. The  road will be lowered from 4800 m to 4000 m above sea level on the Argentine side and at 3600 m above sea level on the Chilean side.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) will partly found the project with a loan of EUR 1.32 billion (USD1.5 billion). In addition, the IADB has also approved EUR17.62 million (USD20 million) in funding for Chile and Argentina to finance the project's environmental impact studies. Each country's contribution to the project cost will be based on the proportion of the tunnel in its territory.

In early June, the Secretary of State met with the Entidad Binacional Tunel Agua Negra (EBITAN), created to manage the development and construction of the binational Agua Negra tunnel, to determine the prequalification bidding. Then on the 13.06.2016 he met with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) aiming to make the call for prequalification between July and August this year. The purpose is to award the tunnel construction by 2017. Click ar/20 and cl/24 for the tunnelbuilder archive. Visit http://www.mop.cl/Prensa/Paginas/DetalleDestacadas-portadillanoticias.aspx?item=2200 and http://www.ebitan.org/index.php. 25/16.