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MeneameChilean construction company Delta plans to sell its 100% stake in Region V tollroad Nogales-Puchuncaví and 34% stake in the tollroad connecting Region VII capital Talca and Region VIII city Chillán during the first six months of 2005.
"Administrating the concessions has been very complicated because with the economic recession [in the late 1990's] that occurred in the country traffic also fell," newspaper Estrategia quoted Delta president and associate Jorge Ríos as saying.
The company expected traffic to increase on its highways as Chile was growing 7% "for many years," but "our projections were very different from reality," he said.
Ríos said talks are underway with local and international groups, which in the case of the Talca-Chillán tollroad are very advanced. However, due to a confidentiality agreement, the name of interested parties cannot be disclosed.
The Talca-Chillán tollroad runs 193km on the Pan-American Highway (Ruta 5), and although the concession was awarded in 1996 for 11.5 years, in August the Chilean government modified the concessionaire's contract, whereby the concession ceased to be a fixed-term contract due to the implementation of an income distribution mechanism (MDI).
The contract's new expiration date now depends on when a total guaranteed income equal to some US$295mn is reached. In general terms, under an MDI, the government will insure revenue against a sudden drop in passenger flows in return for a premium paid via additional public works construction. In the case of Talca-Chillán, the additional investment will be for US$26mn.
Spain's Cintra controls this tollroad.
Nogales-Puchuncaví runs 27km connecting Region V town Nogales on the Pan-American Highway with Puchuncaví near the coast; the 22-year concession began in 1995.
According to results for the first nine months of 2004, lower operating, administrative and sales costs, and a narrowing of non-operating losses helped Talca-Chillán post a 1.58bn-peso (US$2.76mn) net profit, versus a 1.91bn-peso net loss in the same period 2003.
Meanwhile, increased operating, administrative and sales costs, and a widening of non-operating losses impacted Nogales-Puchuncaví's January-September bottom line, which fell 58.8% to 15.7mn pesos. The expansion of local port Quintero, along with the continued importance of nearby Ventanas port, is expected to increase the coastal area's traffic with Argentina.
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