MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Punta Arenas Antarctic International Center bidding process scheduled for next February

The construction time has been estimated at the most in three years from October 2020, as agreed in a meeting between Governor Flies and Santiago officials.

The biding conditions and process for the construction the International Antarctic Center in Punta Arenas, should be ready before the end of the current government of president Sebastián Piñera, according to Magallanes governor Jorge Flies and Jennifer Rogers, presidential delegate for the region.

The center to be built at Punta Arenosa, Bahía Catalina, next to Punta Arenas free trade zone and the road leading to the airport, will demand an investment of some US$ 85 million to be provided with funds from the Special Plan for the Development of Extreme Zones. The construction time has been estimated at the most in three years from October 2020, as agreed in a meeting between local and Santiago officials.

The main building will have 21,331 square meters in three flats with the ground floor an open space for exhibition of Antarctica flora and fauna, while the others will lodge research labs, cold storage facilities, library and lecture hall.

“We expect to announce the bidding process some time next February, we have the green light from Santiago and the Public Works ministry”, announced governor Flies. “Most probably it will be an international event, inviting foreign companies to form consortiums with Chilean companies to bid for the construction of the project”, he added pointing out that there is an interest in developing the maritime ramifications of the complex.

Flies also pointed out that the Center will be built where the original engineering and topographic studies were done, because it is the best for the iconographic recovery of the area.

Presidential delegate Jennifer Rojas finally underscored that governor Flies not only is fully dedicated to the project but has also committed some matching funds for the International Center.