Chilean Firm to Advise Bolivian Highway Concessions

Bolivia's government has appointed Chilean legal analysis firm Miquel y Asociados as advisors in the creation of a concession mechanism for the first three of Bolivia's highway concession projects. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is also assisting the government with two of these projects, which are worth US$240mn. This first concession package includes the construction, upgrade and maintenance of 1,500km of highway broken down into three networks. The projects are part of a national highway system that will cross the country from east to west, which will be Bolivia's link in the region's inter-oceanic corridor, Miquel y Asociados partner Juan Enrique Miquel said. The first objective is to create a highway system that runs west from Bolivia's capital La Paz to the Peruvian and Chilean borders, connecting to highways leading to the Pacific ports. The second objective is to construct a new highway from Santa Cruz to the border with Brazil and Paraguay. The government is also planning a US$9mn concession to build a 20km suburban highway between Santa Cruz and La Guardia.