MOP calls bids for new Calama prison

Chile’s Public Works Ministry published a call for bids on May 14 for the concession of a new prison in Calama, opening an international tender for one of the country’s larger planned penal infrastructure projects. The facility is slated for fiscal land at the intersection of Route B-195 and Route 23 in the Antofagasta region, about 31 kilometers from Calama, according to project documents. The ministry put the official estimated budget at UF 8,690,107, or about $394 million at the observed exchange rate cited that day, excluding VAT. The planned prison is designed for 1,850 people deprived of liberty and about 71,858 square meters of built area. ### Where exactly would the prison be built? Project documents from the ministry’s concessions unit place the prison on state-owned land on Camino Tuina, Route B-195, at its junction with Route 23, the road toward San Pedro de Atacama. The site covers about 285 hectares and sits in Calama commune, El Loa province, in the Antofagasta region. (latercera.com) The Dirección General de Concesiones says the project is part of its 2025-2029 portfolio and lists Calama as a public initiative under a 20-year concession model. The same project sheet says the concession covers construction, maintenance and conservation of the prison, along with prison-related services. ### What would the concessionaire actually build and run? (concesiones.mop.gob.cl) The ministry’s project sheet says the prison would include a Centro de Educación y Trabajo, modules for people with disabilities, an addiction treatment center, a helicopter landing point and Gendarmería administrative facilities. The same documents also list support infrastructure and security works including access controls, perimeter walls, watchtowers and CCTV systems. (concesiones.mop.gob.cl) La Tercera, citing the ministry’s statement, reported that the concession model combines construction, surveillance technology and reintegration services. Minister of Public Works Martín Arrau said in that statement that Chile needs more prison capacity, better infrastructure, technology and modern facilities “para que el sistema funcione con orden.” (concesiones.mop.gob.cl) ### How much money is involved, and how is it structured? The official estimate published with the tender was UF 8,690,107, equivalent to about $394 million excluding VAT using that day’s observed dollar rate, La Tercera reported from the ministry’s notice. A January 2026 project sheet from the concessions authority lists the budget in review at UF 8,750,000, indicating the figures were still being adjusted in project documentation around the tender period. (latercera.com) The financing structure in the concessions documents includes a fixed construction subsidy paid by the Justice Ministry and Human Rights Ministry to finance the works, plus a fixed operating subsidy for prison operations. The same documents say there can also be variable operating payments, including for inmate overcrowding, and additional income from the prison commissary and complementary services. (latercera.com) ### Who can bid, and how does the process work? The ministry said the tender is international and open to natural or legal persons, Chilean or foreign, either individually or as part of a bidding group, provided they meet the requirements in the concessions law, its regulations and the bidding terms. That makes the Calama project available to both domestic and overseas infrastructure operators and consortiums under Chile’s concession framework. (concesiones.mop.gob.cl) The concessions documents say the winning offer will be the technically acceptable bid with the highest score under the tender formula. The environmental review will be carried out by the concessionaire under the bidding rules and current law, and the Antofagasta environmental authority has already determined, in response to a pertinence query, that the project must enter the environmental impact assessment system. (latercera.com) ### What dates come next? The ministry set November 24, 2026, at 12:00 p.m. for the public receipt of bids at the MOP auditorium on Morandé 71, third floor, Santiago. The opening of economic offers is scheduled for December 22, 2026, also at 12:00 p.m. in the same venue. The concessions authority’s latest project sheet points to adjudication in 2027, provisional service in 2029 and the start of works in 2032 under its published timetable, while earlier materials showed a different sequence, suggesting the schedule has evolved during project preparation. (concesiones.mop.gob.cl) The same sheet keeps the concession term at a maximum of 20 years of operation. (latercera.com)