Skip to main content

Chile awards China $1.1bn toll deal

CRCC will have concession on 195km Talca-Chillán toll highway on Route 5
By Adam Hill April 12, 2021 Read time: 1 min
CRCC offered a total concession income of around $1.1bn (image courtesy: Chile’s General Directorate of Public Works Concessions)

Chile has awarded China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) a build-concession contract to upgrade and operate a 195km toll highway - the Talca-Chillán section of Route 5.

CRCC offered a total concession income of around US$1.1 billion in what Chile’s General Directorate of Public Works Concessions said is the first such contract awarded to a Chinese group. CRCC won over proposals from Sacyr Concesiones Chile and Consortium Cintra-Intervial.   

The contract is for a variable but maximum term of 32 years. 

Construction includes a 56km bypass and additional lanes to 30kms of existing road, 39km of bicycle lanes and 32 footbridges.

CRCC will also upgrade drainage, lighting and landscaping, improve connectivity to local roads and over time replace 18 existing cash toll plazas with 13 scanning gantries that read motorists’ tags for electronic payment.

The project was first tendered in October 2019 but the awarding has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Various government approvals are pending and work is not expected to start before the first half of 2025.
 

Related Content

  • Lindsay zips-up lane closure solution
    May 11, 2017
    Moveable barrier systems are offering engineers a new traffic management options. Work zones - be they for maintenance or road widening - are a fact of life and when they occur on major highways, they create no end of problems for traffic planners and travellers alike.
  • DriveWyze wireless Preclear system speeds weighstation waiting
    March 1, 2013
    Drivewyze aims to revolutionise the way weighstation bypass systems work with its Pre-Clear system. And it’s not just looking at weighstations, either… Pete Goldin reports. Truck drivers know the drill: pull off the high­way at every weighstation and wait. Carriers know the drill, too: every minute spent waiting there translates directly into dollars lost. Traditionally, the only alternative to this scenario is a transponder-based system, which allows trucks to bypass the sites using technology similar to
  • Mileage based charging offers secure future for funding
    August 10, 2016
    HNTB’s Matthew Click sets out why a move to mileage-based pricing is inevitable. Infrastructure is the most neglected yet the most critical engine of our society, and our continued indifference could lead to a dystopian future. Our roads, bridges and highways have been largely passed by in the digital age—marginalised in an era when funding is limited and stewardship of physical assets has given way to our preoccupation with technological innovation and data—the stuff of the virtual realm.
  • IBTTA explains INVEST in America Act 2021
    June 23, 2021
    Mark Muriello, IBTTA director of policy & government affairs, outlines some of the key tolling points of the US House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee’s INVEST in America Act 2021