The project involves the construction, operation and maintenance of a 76,600 square metre infrastructure, with an estimated capacity for 2,160 inmates.
The call for tenders for the concession of the penitentiary infrastructure project “Model Education and Work Compound: El Arenal de Copiapó” is scheduled for October of this year, announced the Minister of Public Works, Jessica López, during her visit to the Atacama Region.
The schedule of the General Directorate of Concessions of the MOP considers issuing the call for tenders for the new penitentiary facility in October of this year, while the reception of technical offers is scheduled for the second quarter of 2025 and the opening of economic offers during the third quarter of next year.
From the place where the Ministry of National Assets has defined for the project, Minister López stressed that “they have transferred to us the land for the construction of the new penitentiary in El Arenal de Copiapó. A long-standing initiative, but now we are on the right track for the call for tenders for this penitentiary, in the form of a concession that we will make next October. It is a very important facility within the prison infrastructure plan that the Ministry of Justice has defined, with more than 2,000 new places in a region that, by the way, has three penitentiary establishments and is over-occupied, as is also the case at the national level. That is why it is so important to accelerate this project.”
The presidential delegate of Atacama, Rodrigo Illanes, commented that “today we are taking a very important step towards the completion of a tremendously significant project for our region, which will allow us to have a high-standard prison facility and which will cover an urgent need in terms of prison infrastructure in our country.”
If everything goes according to plan, the facility will begin operating in 2030. The new facility will be located on state-owned land adjacent to Ruta 5 Norte, approximately 40 kilometers northwest of the city of Copiapó and 14 kilometers south of the Desierto de Atacama airport, in the region of the same name.
The architectural proposal includes a complex of 53 buildings with a total area of approximately 76,600 m2, with an estimated capacity of 2,160 persons deprived of liberty, in 15 detention modules.
In terms of employment, during the construction phase of the new penitentiary, an average of 500 jobs will be created, and at peak, nearly 1,000. Meanwhile, during its operation, nearly 600 officials will be employed.
The project includes the construction of a new penitentiary facility, the maintenance and upkeep of the infrastructure, and the provision of basic services, including penitentiary services, mandatory special services and complementary services, if any.
