en.Wedoany.com Reported - Chile's Ministry of Public Works (MOP) plans to publish 11 concession tenders during the 2026-2027 biennium through its General Directorate of Concessions (DGC), a plan included in the framework of the ministry's 2026 participatory public account. In 2025, the ministry awarded concession contracts totaling approximately 1.84 trillion Chilean pesos (about US$2 billion).
The prison-related projects already specified in this tender plan include five. The High-Security Prison - Santiago 1 concession project involves an investment of US$175 million; the existing Santiago 1 prison facility covers approximately 64,000 square meters and can hold 4,000 persons deprived of liberty, and the works will add approximately 28,000 square meters and 600 new spaces through high and maximum security modules. The Third Group Second Concession of the Prison Infrastructure Concession Plan (Puerto Montt and Valdivia) involves an investment of US$200 million and will expand and operate 900 new spaces, of which 300 in Valdivia and 600 in Puerto Montt, with additional space exceeding 26,000 square meters. The Second Concession Group 1.1 of Prison Infrastructure (Alto Hospicio and La Serena) involves an investment of US$297 million and requires the expansion and operation of 1,659 new spaces, of which 843 in Alto Hospicio and 816 in La Serena, with additional space exceeding 49,000 square meters. The Second Concession Group 1.2 of Prison Infrastructure (Rancagua) involves an investment of US$140 million, expanding and operating 900 new spaces in additional space exceeding 24,000 square meters. It also includes the Second Concession of the Santiago Judicial Center and projects to improve border complexes coordinated with the Ministry of the Interior.
In the airport category, the Southern Airports Network concession involves an investment of US$236 million, covering the fifth concession of El Tepual Airport in Puerto Montt and incorporating Cañal Bajo Airport in Osorno, Mocopulli Airport in Chiloé, and Pichoy Airport in Valdivia into the concession system. The remaining four tenders are not specified in detail in the document; the Ministry of Public Works states these are "supplementary projects to be defined in coordination with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and the Ministry of the Interior."
This batch of tenders is part of a broader prison infrastructure plan aimed at expanding the prison system's capacity by approximately 10,000 additional places through new facilities and expansions of existing ones. The plan is coordinated by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and the Gendarmería de Chile, and includes projects already underway, such as the new Copiapó prison facility in the Atacama Region, awarded in 2026.
During the 2026-2030 period, the General Directorate of Concessions also plans to carry out highway tenders, including awarding the concession for the expansion of Route 5 between Arica and Quillón, as well as strengthening transversal highways, which the ministry describes as part of consolidating the "backbone of the national highway system." On the hospital agenda, the Ministry of Public Works expects the concession hospital network to add approximately 4,300 beds during that period, with 24 concession hospitals in operation by 2030, totaling a capacity of approximately 6,300 beds.
