translated from Spanish: Government hopes to reach Hyundai deal over Chacao Bridge

The government said on Tuesday that it hopes to reach an agreement with the multinational Hyundai, which this week announced the suspension of the works of a million-dollar 2,750-meter bridge between mainland Chile and the island of Chi I’ve been because of differences over alleged cost overruns.
Public Works Minister Alfredo Moreno said at a press conference that he hopes to be able to “save” the differences of opinion with the consortium that builds the suspension bridge and that he leads the South Korean company, but warned that they will go to court if they did not get it . “The contract itself states that any dispute must be resolved in the courts of justice of Chile, either party can resort without any problem to any difference. No one is above the law, neither Chileans nor foreigners,” he said.
Hyundai, along with France’s Systra and Norway’s Aas-Jakobsen, was awarded in 2013 during the first government (2010-2014) of the current president, Sebastián Piñera, the design and construction for nearly $600 million of the hanging infrastructure.
According to the company, subsequent administrations commissioned changes to the original design, “involving a different project” and “higher associated costs,” and these were “approved” in December 2018 by the current government, but were never included in the Contract.
Minister Moreno said the costs demanded by the consortium “is a 50% increase in the value of the bridge” (about $300 million) and “we have to take care of the resources of all Chileans.”
“The contract states that they themselves carry out the design, they establish what the engineering is and they build it themselves. If that bridge comes out more or less, it corresponds to the risks of the person who made that contract and committed a fixed amount to building that bridge,” he said.
“We will not accept that the contract is terminated and if this happens it would have serious repercussions for the consortium itself,” he added.

Original source in Spanish