Lorena Herrera Omegna assumes the General Directorate of Concessions

The Ministry of Public Works appointed Lorena Pía Herrera Omegna as Director General of Concessions, a senior management position attached to the Senior Public Management System. The appointment was formalized through Decree No. 183, of July 22, 2026, published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile No. 44,541, on Thursday, September 3, 2026, Section I, page 1 (official reference: CVE 2862970).

The designation was resolved by the President of the Republic, José Antonio Kast Rist, based on the proposal from the public competition convened by the Senior Public Management Council through the National Directorate of the Civil Service, and endorsed by the Minister of Public Works, Louis de Grange Concha. The new authority assumes her duties as of July 22, 2026, without waiting for the full processing of the decree, due to urgent reasons of good service.

A first-level hierarchical position

Herrera Omegna, a commercial engineer, RUN 15.312.630-5, will hold the senior management of the General Directorate of Public Works Concessions, with grade 1B of the EUS and residence in Santiago. The position corresponds to the first hierarchical level of the Senior Public Management System, with a Senior Public Management Allowance of 90%, established by Decree No. 1,830 of 2018, from the Ministry of Finance.

• Position: Director General of Concessions of the MOP.
• Grade: 1B of the EUS, staff of the General Directorate of Concessions.
• Remuneration: charged to Subtitle 21 of the 2026 Budget Law.
• Legal framework: Law No. 19,882 (Senior Public Management) and Law No. 21,044, which creates the General Directorate of Concessions.

The Comptroller’s Office processes with caveats

The Comptroller General of the Republic, through official letter OF157353/2026, dated August 19, 2026, took note of the decree as it conforms to the law, but processed it with two caveats relevant to probity. First, it noted that Herrera Omegna held a contract appointment in the same General Directorate of Concessions, which will cease by operation of law upon assuming the new position, pursuant to Article 86 of Law No. 18,834.

Secondly, the oversight body warned that the new director previously served as Deputy General Manager at the Concessionary Company Red Maule S.A., therefore she must apply the duty of abstention in the event of potential conflicts of interest. The Comptroller’s Office recalled that the principle of administrative probity, enshrined in Article 8 of the Constitution and developed in Articles 52 and 53 of Law No. 18,575, requires impartiality and the preeminence of the general interest over private interest.

Duty of abstention and probity

The scope of the Comptroller’s Office emphasizes that the authority must refrain from intervening in matters in which they have a personal interest or in which any circumstance exists that undermines impartiality, in accordance with Article 62 No. 6 of Law No. 18,575 and Article 12 of Law No. 19,880. The cited administrative jurisprudence (Rulings Nos. 5,856 of 2018 and 22,989 of 2019) specifies that abstention is appropriate even in the face of a merely potential conflict of interest.

The appointment places a professional with a track record in the sector at the head of public works concessions, but it also activates the control mechanisms that seek to ensure that her management is carried out with strict impartiality. For readers, the relevance lies in the fact that the General Directorate of Concessions manages the country’s largest public infrastructure contracts, and the scope of the Comptroller’s Office reinforces the guarantees of probity in an area sensitive to conflicts of interest.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile, No. 44,541, Thursday, September 3, 2026, Section I, p. 1 (official reference: CVE 2862970).