Chilean power producer Alto Maipo S.p.A. has awarded a US$490 million contract to Strabag SE for tunneling and civil works at Chile's 531-MW Alto Maipo hydropower project.
Strabag, an Austria-based construction company, will design and build more than 46 kilometers of tunnels and shafts. The work will include drilling, blasting, and boring with tunneling machines.
Strabag says its four-and-a-half year work at the Alto Maipo hydroelectric complex will begin immediately.
The Alto Maipo project includes two hydropower plants: the 264-MW Alfalfal 2, and the 267-MW Las Lajas.
The Alfalfal 2 project will be located in the Colorado River sub-basin downstream from Alfalfal 1, and Las Lajas will be located near the confluence of the Maipo River and El Manzano marsh.
HydroWorld.com reported that Chile's AES Gener solicited pre-qualification bids for the work in June 2010.
