President José Antonio Kast announced a reduction of up to 25% in Autopista Central TAG toll rates. The discount will take effect on January 1, 2027, following months of negotiations between the executive branch and the concessionaire.
According to BioBioChile, the announcement promises relief for motorists but sparked debate over its fine print and timing. TAG is the electronic device installed on the windshield that records each passage through urban highway toll gantries, with charges billed monthly.
The measure applies only to Autopista Central, the concessionaire for Route 5 and the General Velásquez corridor, covering around 62 kilometers in the Metropolitan Region. No other highway, in Santiago or elsewhere in the country, is currently part of the agreement.
The scheme distinguishes between time periods. Off-peak trips will receive a 10% reduction, while trips during peak and congestion periods will receive a 25% reduction. The discount applies to each passage, rather than the entire monthly bill.
The Ministry of Public Works (MOP) provided examples using a $100,000 bill. If all trips are off-peak, it would fall to $90,000. If all are during peak periods, it would come to $75,000. With an equal mix, the final payment would be $82,500.
According to the government, the reduction would benefit around 1.7 million users per month. However, there is a condition: users must pay their bills within the first 60 days. Anyone behind on payments will not receive the discount.
The measure is also not immediate. The agreement must undergo an administrative review before it can be implemented. Kast said that modifying contracts requires analysis and discussion.
The most controversial point is what the concessionaire receives in return. The concession will be extended by 20 additional months, until April 2036, instead of ending in August 2034.
Franco Parisi, secretary-general of the People's Party (PDG) and a former presidential candidate, called the agreement a "very bad deal for Chile, but a very good deal for the concessionaires". In his view, the government should have used other legal avenues, such as Article 19 of the concessions law, to set floors and ceilings on company profits. He warned that, without those limits, the cost would fall on the middle class and emerging socioeconomic groups.
Andrés Alarcón, president of the NGO No Más TAG, was harsher. "It is insufficient, and they really are making a mockery of people," he said. He alleged that the contract was extended without consulting the public and called for fundamental reforms to the concessions law.
Taking the opposite view, Felipe Berger, an academic at Adolfo Ibáñez University, highlighted the positive effect on household budgets in the face of increases tied to the CPI (Consumer Price Index) and the Unidad de Fomento.
Louis de Grange, who heads two ministries, said the government hopes to replicate similar agreements on other urban highways and elsewhere in the country over the coming months. At the time of the announcement, no equivalent agreements had been finalized with other concessionaires.
