File photo where several people observe the transfer of a container in the Port of Chancay, in the province of Huaral, about 80 km north of the city of Lima. Photo: EFE
EFE / Lima
The Peruvian district of Chancay, on whose coasts the construction of a megaport with Chinese capital is being completed, is committed to becoming a national development pole, although its mayor, Juan Álvarez, warns that a plan is needed that includes the construction of infrastructure to allow organized growth of the town.
“That is what we are not wanting. That is why, in the coming days, the urban development plan is being approved,” Álvarez explained in an interview with EFE.
The new port, located about 70 kilometers from Lima, will be inaugurated next Thursday by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, together with the Peruvian president, Dina Boluarte, and will become the jewel in the crown of the New Silk Road in South America.
It belongs 60% to the Chinese state company Cosco Shipping and 40% to the Peruvian mining company Volcan Compañía Minera, the fourth largest producer of silver and zinc worldwide.
According to the district mayor’s calculations, the port will directly employ around 5,000 people in the first phase, “who will be incorporated into the production chain.”
Added to this will be the tourism that the new infrastructure hopes to attract.
“At this moment we have a considerable increase in tourism from visitors, (who arrive) to find out where the port of Chancay is, but also private investments in the industries that are going to try to settle here,” he stressed.
That project would benefit from the approval of a private special economic zone.
In Álvarez’s opinion, this area should have “zero income” in terms of taxes, but “with the possibility of increasing it over time” gradually.
A growing population
In the Mayor’s calculations, population growth, starting next year, will be 12.5%.
“Now migration is going to tremendously exceed the birth rate and we are going to reach 12.5% (growth). It means that, in the span of 10 years, Chancay can double and suddenly triple in population,” held.
At that point lies the need to implement the urban development plan that is being promoted “to zone the spaces and make it a planned and orderly city.”
The project, for a municipality that the mayor himself describes as “small”, with its nearly 65,000 inhabitants, needs the support of the authorities.
“Unfortunately, the national government, which has the economic power to invest in works of this nature, is not moving forward,” the mayor remarked.
Álvarez recalled that “Peru has had a series of political problems that have led the country to have six presidents in six years.”
“Now, the president of the Republic herself (Dina Boluarte) has a difficult situation, but we believe that this great possibility is given to us, precisely, if there are contributions in political concepts for the large-scale works that have to come,” he said. .
For this reason, and appealing to the possibilities of job creation, he demanded political will.
Water and safety
Like the entire coast of Peru, the district of Chancay has a desert climate, which is a challenge given the expected population increase.
For this reason, as the mayor explained, they are prioritizing projects for water supply and wastewater treatment.
“If it comes in a forceful way, the population increase will definitely not be able to withstand what we have at this moment,” he commented.
Additionally, he stressed that Peru “is going through an extremely difficult time” due to the impact of citizen insecurity.
Currently, as he explains, in Chancay they have a “very small” security team, with 65 police officers who have two vehicles for 152 square kilometers.
They are two fundamental elements on which the Government must work so that the future of Chancay is not chaotic and allows it to effectively become a development pole.
And yet, Álvarez is optimistic. When asked how he imagines his district in a decade, he is clear: “it will be a prosperous city, a modern city with spas, that is not just the port and takes advantage of the sea view.”
His dream is completed with “large green areas and spaces for vehicular traffic” that allow his town to not be “a very tight city.”
A possibility that only the future will tell if it is fulfilled or if, as on other occasions, the challenges exceed the capacity to respond.
