“Our commitment is in the coming days to start the special registration book for companies to call for bids in November and thereby restart the works of this second stage of the GAM during next year,” reported the Minister of Public Works, Jessica López, about the project that aims to resume and conclude the works abandoned in 2018 and that have 45% of their infrastructure built. The news was delivered during an inspection visit carried out on the morning of last Wednesday, August 7, by Minister Jessica López together with the Minister of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, Carolina Arredondo; the president of the GAM board of directors, Claudia Barattini; the executive director of GAM, Felipe Mella; and the deputy director of the MOP Architecture Directorate, Martín Urrutia.
Thus, starting today, Wednesday, August 14, the call for the Special Registry of Contractors was opened. The delivery of documents (background) will be in person - companies must pick them up at the MOP (Morandé 53, floor 9) -, extending only until next August 23. This registry will make it possible to evaluate the technical experience and financial capacity of the companies or consortia authorized to participate in the bidding for the works, which is valid for national and foreign companies, whether or not registered in the official MOP registries.
The project seeks to conclude the works in a space that will be transformed into the main public performance hall in the country, consolidating a cultural center that in 2023 will receive more than one and a half million visitors.
In relation to the new works, the Minister of Public Works explained that: "This is in line with the commitment of President Gabriel Boric to conclude these works and give the country the main hall of culture and entertainment. This is an important investment of 72 billion pesos in this definitive rehabilitation project of these works that will be developed from 2025 to 2028."
In this regard, the Minister of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, Carolina Arredondo, highlighted that: "Here there is an investment by the State to be able to provide citizens with a cultural infrastructure that is unique. We hope that great works, great national creations, happen here, also that we can have visits from international creations, but above all that citizens can enjoy a first-class space."
The Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center (GAM) constitutes the largest work in terms of cultural infrastructure at the national level, with an approximate surface area of almost 16 thousand m2, distributed over 6 levels and 4 underground. The new construction stage, which will provide the space with almost 16 thousand additional square meters, will allow the venue to have a total area of 38 thousand square meters.
The project also contemplates improvements in the original design such as: greater versatility of the stage, by incorporating more lifting platforms, being 100% mobile; modification of the seat transfer and storage system, improving changeover times between different types of shows; incorporation of a stage design project into the rehearsal room, giving it more scenic features; greater incorporation of LED technology into the lighting project and improvement of the air conditioning project, providing better performance for the benefit of thermal comfort and contributing to the parameters required in the acoustic project.
“Our commitment is in the next few days to start the special registry book for companies to call for tenders in November and thereby restart the works of this second stage of the GAM during next year”
— Jessica López, Minister of Public Works.
“Here there is an investment by the State to be able to provide citizens with a cultural infrastructure that is unique. We hope that great works, great national creations, happen here, also that we can have visits from international creations, but above all that citizens can enjoy a first-class space.”
— Carolina Arredondo, Minister of Cultures, Arts and Heritage.