Chilean Ministerial Committee Dispute: What It Means for the Future of Chilean Industry

In Chile, the debate around removing the ministerial committee that reviews environmental assessment appeals is heating up. This move is part of a bill designed to simplify the existing review process.

Environment Minister Maisa Rojas highlighted that figuring out who will replace this committee is a significant challenge. She spoke to BNamericas after introducing new electric buses for public transport in Santiago.

The bill was submitted to Congress a year ago and recently passed through the Senate’s environment committee. It is now headed to the finance committee, where discussions will continue in March. If it gets approved there, it will move to a full Senate vote.

So far, the environment committee is in favor of abolishing the ministerial committee. However, it’s unclear if the rest of Congress, including the lower house, will support this change. Rojas expressed determination to complete this project before the current government term ends in March 2026.

The ministerial committee has faced criticism for making decisions based on political influences rather than technical evaluation. Currently, 73 projects worth around $7.93 billion are under appeal after their environmental assessments.

The bill also aims to encourage citizen participation in the review process. It suggests eliminating the evaluation committees currently led by government-appointed experts for specific economic sectors. Instead, final votes on projects would be managed by SEA’s regional offices.

Right now, SEA is processing over 480 projects valued at $93.4 billion, showing the urgency and importance of these reforms.

Source link