The "revolution" that keeps Bosque Panul at risk
Bosque Panul has faced various private projects and the stubborn political will of the State, which incentivizes urban growth by supporting the real estate business at the expense of the forests that sustain life. The current government, under the slogan of "accelerating investment," has launched a "microeconomic revolution," in its own words, whose cornerstone would be the GPS or "Office for the Management of Sustainable Projects." This Office is the successor of the CAI (Investment Acceleration Committee) or Comité Longueira, which in Piñera's first government was harshly questioned by the Contraloría, as its purpose was to lobby for the approval of 80 "emblematic" projects across the country — including the real estate project planned for Fundo El Panul in the municipality of La Florida.
The current government has stated through various media that a "microeconomic revolution" will be carried out, without giving many details about what this concept means. What has been emerging in recent days is that the "revolution" will basically seek to "increase investment."
Increasing investment, or in other words increasing the number of approved projects, will bring us greater social well-being, they say from the government.
The cornerstone of this revolution will be the GPS, or Office for the Management of Sustainable Projects.
The Longueira Committee: the father of the creature.
On August 2, 2010, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Acceleration of Investment Projects (CAI) was created when Pablo Longueira was Minister of Economy. The objective of this committee was to unblock emblematic projects through advisory services for their rapid implementation. At the time, it was highly questioned by the Contraloría, as its intervention exceeded the advisory function for which it was created and "accelerated" processes by bypassing institutional channels.
When Piñera's first government ended, this committee disappeared.
Piñera strikes again
But now, in his second government, Sebastián Piñera was at it again, starting with a mistake: the CAI was now called the "Investment Project Management Office." Apparently, the name was not well received, as it not only resembled its predecessor but made it clear that it would expedite or manage investment projects — not always environmentally friendly. So the name was quickly changed to the current GPS, or Office for the Management of Sustainable Projects.
A few days ago, the minister of economy José Valente, told a newspaper, when asked What are the pillars of the "microeconomic revolution" the government has announced? "Creating attractive conditions for investment through the GPS office... the criticism is valid, we have become a bureaucratic country in the approval of investment projects. Through the GPS we conducted the survey and know that over the next five years there are approximately 220 projects representing US$70 billion in investment, with the potential for 30,000 new quality jobs."
The GPS has already been reported to the Contraloría by parliamentarians.
SUPER for polluting projects
The government already complained about the excessive "bureaucracy" faced by investment projects in the country. For this reason, to avoid what happens today (where various state agencies weigh in on a project), it announced the creation of SUPER, a "Unified Permit System that will allow processing and tracking of more than 200 permits on a web portal".
Paradoxically, Chile's environmental system is so precarious and has approved so many polluting projects — causing serious crises in Monte Patria, Petorca, and Quinteros — that we see no reason to accelerate the environmental approval of large corporations.
What's coming
What the current government intends completely ignores Chilean reality, where hundreds of towns suffer from water scarcity, or from having projects contaminating their water, their land, and their rivers. The executive should be working to strengthen our weakened environmental institutions, to approve projects that genuinely benefit the ecosystem and the communities living within it — not just approve or manage projects based on the amount of money they will generate at the end of the day. To think that as a people we can live forever off money is to fail to understand that our planet has limits.
The scenario is very complex — not only for Panul, but for all ecosystems that survive in urban areas or their surroundings. Rather than being incorporated as environmental heritage, these are being destroyed by mega-projects that respond to a policy of unlimited growth and little regard for the people who live there.
What will happen in places where there is no active community, and the State acts as it has done up to now? They will be contaminated and destroyed without even any mitigation from companies. Once again, we will all lose.
Our solution is a community-based territorial and urban management, one that decides in open (horizontal and diverse) spaces the central axes of community planning for towns and cities, which is then executed by the State — not the other way around as is currently intended.
Red por la Defensa de la Precordillera. March 2019.
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