The secretary general of the People's Party (PDG), Franco Parisi, criticized the agreement under which President José Antonio Kast announced a reduction of up to 25% in TAG toll rates on Autopista Central. "A very bad deal for Chile, but a very good deal for the concession operators," he said.
According to BioBioChile, the president presented the measure on Monday night at the highway's facilities in San Bernardo. He was accompanied by the Minister of Public Works and Transport, Louis de Grange.
The agreement provides for a reduction of 10% in regular rates and 25% during peak and congested periods. According to the government, it will benefit around 1.7 million users a month. However, the discount will apply only to those who pay their bills within the first 60 days.
The reduction is not immediate. It will take effect on January 1, 2027, once the administrative review of the agreement is complete.
The most disputed point is what the operator receives in return. In exchange for charging less, the concession operator gets a 20-month contract extension, allowing it to operate the highway until April 2036 instead of August 2034, as previously scheduled.
"President Kast is making a mistake again. You have to do your homework and run the numbers," Parisi said. The economist suggested that the government could use Article 19 of the Concessions Law to modify charges without extending the contract.
His proposal seeks to set limits on profits. "The right approach is to negotiate both a floor and a ceiling for the concession operators' profits," he said. Without those limits, he warned, "the middle class and the emerging middle class will always be paying."
The criticism did not come only from the PDG. According to ADN Radio, Socialist Deputy Nelson Venegas, a member of the committee reviewing highway concessions, tolls and TAG, said the agreement "tends to favor mainly the concession operators."
"The concession operators don't lose; all it does is extend their contract," Venegas said. In his view, that means users will continue paying TAG tolls for longer.
From another perspective, Senator Camila Flores, chair of the Senate Transport Committee, welcomed the announcement but objected to its scope. "Santiago is not Chile," she said, criticizing the concentration of benefits in the Metropolitan Region.
"Those of us who live in the regions continue paying extremely high prices to travel on our own roads," Flores added. The senator called for this measure to be "only the first step."
The agreement thus leaves clear winners. Santiago motorists who pay on time will receive a discount starting in 2027. The concession operator will retain the highway for 20 more months. For now, users of regional highways have no equivalent measure. The sources do not specify how much the company will collect during that additional period.
The next milestone is the administrative review of the agreement. Whether the reduction takes effect on January 1, 2027, depends on that process.
