Chile: the best neighborhood to invest in, but with the gate closed

While the region watches closely as Peru consolidates the Chancay megaport, Chile faces a troubling paradox: we remain one of the countries with the best macroeconomic conditions for foreign investment, yet our permitting system has become an almost insurmountable barrier.

The cost of red tape

The Port of San Antonio expansion project is the perfect example of this critical bottleneck. Infrastructure that is strategic and vital to the country's logistical competitiveness has spent years trapped in a maze of environmental reviews and state bureaucracy. This isn't about relaxing environmental standards — it's about demanding efficiency, clear timelines, and legal certainty from the authorities.

A strategic challenge

When an investment project of this scale is delayed, it's not just the project's owner who loses; the entire supply chain loses, local SMEs lose, and ultimately the country loses ground to neighbors moving with greater agility. Permitting red tape has stopped being a mere administrative nuisance and become a sovereign risk.

How can we help?

At Dupouy & Méndez we understand that navigating the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA) and sector-specific processing requires more than legal knowledge — it demands strategy. We help boards and management teams anticipate critical bottlenecks, manage regulatory crises, and make complex projects viable through a preventive approach.