Chile’s public works ministry has pushed back the due date for bids on the first phase of the Americo Vespucio Oriente (AVO) tunnel from November 20 to December 30, and raised the value of the deal to US$1.06 billion from US$940 million. In the meantime, the Chilean ministry received, on November 11, engineering proposals for the second, 4-km-long, phase of the tunnel.  Engineering options are scheduled to be made public on January 20.