Chile Pushing$540 Million Worth of Prison Projects

Aiming to quickly plug a shortfall in prison space, the Chilean government is well on its way to delivering $270 million worth of design-build prisons, part of a $540-million program. International teams building the prisons also are charged with financing the work and operating the prisons for up to 20 years.

Paris-based Vinci Group, the most recent contract winner, has just started construction on three prisons. The national government approved Vinci’s designs in September, says Jean-Luis Dupoirieux, the firm’s deputy general manager for Latin America.

Vinci is teamed with local designers, including a security expert in Chile, says Dupoirieux. The Vinci contract includes prisons in Santiago, Puerto Montt and Valdivia. Combined, they will be able to hold 5,000 inmates and together cost nearly $100 million.

Vinci is no stranger to Chile. In early 2002 the firm completed a design-build contract for a 160-km long section of Highway 5 between Chillán and Collipulli near Concepcíon. In 2005, it plans to bid for the next prison contract, estimated at $60 million, for 45,000-sq m of prison space at two sites housing a total of 4,000 inmates. Altogether, Chile’s government is procuring 10 prisons through design, build, finance and operate.

Two earlier prison contracts went to a consortium of three companies, including local contractor Besalco Concessions S.A. and Italy’s Torno International S.p.A., Milan. The group has been responsible for design-building 8,200 prison spaces at five facilities costing over $110 million.

Puerto Rican Port Project Fails To Draw Interest

Authorities in Puerto Rico have reverted to conventional design-bid-build contracting following a poor response to plans to let a $700 million design-build-finance-operate port facility contract.

Moffatt and Nichols Engineers, Long Beach, Calif., with the local firm Iglesias, Vazquez & Associates now are preparing designs for bidding the construction contract next year, says a project engineer.

The firms advised Puerto Rico Industrial Development Co. and the port authority on the attempt at a DBOT contract. But the bids received this summer failed to impress the Puerto Ricans.

The Port of the Americas at Ponce initially will handle 1.4 million standard containers a year and include over 1 km of general wharves.

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Work Starts on $1-Billion Brazilian Metro Lline

Following the packaging of over $1 billion in financing this summer, work now is ramping up on a $500-million-plus project to install infrastructure for the fourth metro line in São Paulo, Brazil. The Yellow Line is due to start service in 2007 and carry 900,000 passengers daily. Work includes constructing a 12.8-km long tunnel and 11 stations, according to facility operator Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo (CMSP).

Drilling the access shaft already has started and tunnelling construction will involve a mix of techniques, mainly machine boring with some use of the New Austrian Tunnelling Method. Civil construction accounts for about 80% of the infrastructure work.

CMSP awarded separate design-build contracts for tunnels and stations late last year to the Via Amarela consortium. Led by locally based CBPO Engenharia Ltd., part of the large Odebrecht Group, the consortium also includes two other Brazilian contractors.

The contractors, supported by local design firms, will handle tunnelling and station work. Meanwhile, French consortium member Alstom Transport S.A., Paris, is responsible for designing, supplying and installing electrical and mechanical equipment at a cost of over $100 million.

"We are doing most of the design in Brazil," says Paulo Borges, an Alstom executive. Having done corresponding work on the metros’ Line 5, Alstom’s local division is a veteran, he adds. Equipment will be sourced mainly in Brazil, with only specialized items being procured from Paris.

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation sealed project financing by committing to over $200 million in loan guarantees. The World Bank previously had agreed to provide a similar sum. The São Paulo State government is contributing over $500 million, with private investors also participating.

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