Chile president vows to unblock US$65bn in investment projects

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has opened a new office called GPS aimed at speeding up bureaucratic procedures to boost large investment projects, accompanying a series of measures intended to accelerate such projects.

In a presentation at the La Moneda presidential palace, Piñera presented a bill that creates a "pro-investment agenda," which includes 12 measures such as reducing approval times for water projects, regulating temporary suspensions for works in progress in order to prevent stoppages, allowing national mining service Sernageomin to keep an updated list of mining concessions and simplifying procedures carried out by environmental regulator SEA, among others.

Piñera pointed out that more than 200 projects involving over US$65bn are stalled due to regulatory delays. He has thus instructed the country's national commission for productivity (CNP) to help lawmakers identify bottlenecks that could be slowing down projects

In this regard, economy minister José Valente said that "Chile needs to create quality jobs urgently" and that unblocking the 203 projects listed by the government would help to create 250,000 jobs.

"The OECD listed us as the most bureaucratic country in the organization," he said, adding that projects in Chile need an average of four to five years to obtain all necessary permits.

He also said that the changes to the SEA and the efforts to reduce project approval times "are not intended to lower standards, it's about shortening times while retaining environmental protections, maintaining good relations with communities and respecting our legislation."

The newly appointed head of the GPS office, Juan José Obach, added that the office "will be the first to guarantee that the current legislation is followed" as its function is "to create coordination with both investors and public agencies... so procedures can be accelerated."

GPS launched its website today, which lists all projects seen by the government as being held up by bureaucratic barriers and which also includes initiatives not carried out under Michelle Bachelet's government.

When asked by BNamericas whether the government will focus on unblocking specific projects, Obach said "we're committed to all projects," and confirmed that the Dominga mining project, which was blocked by the previous administration, was included on the government list.

According to the GPS website, mining projects lead the government's list of stalled initiatives with some US$31.8bn in investments outlined, followed by infrastructure (US$14.1bn) and energy (US$5bn).

The country's national mining society Sonami issued a positive response to the announcements, with president Diego Hernández saying in a press release that the proposed measures and GPS office will "incentivize investment and unblock important projects."

Hernández underlined that, since 2013, Chile's 10-year investment projections in the mining sector have fallen from US$112bn to US$65bn.

Last month, top representatives of Chile's mining sector hailed the government's plans to reduce the number of permits required for mining projects and plans to promote large investment projects.