CRAMSA

Citizens Of Antofagasta Get To Know The New Project To Increase Water Availability In The Region

The initiative promoted by CRAMSA convened the community to present the details of the “Maritime Waters” project, gathering the concerns and opinions of the people, prior to the entry of its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

CRAMSA presented its project at the Exponor Exhibition Center, as part of its Early Citizen Participation process (PACA), through an Open House for the community of Antofagasta.

The activity consisted of an explanation of the benefits for the territory, the impacts and the company’s proposal to mitigate these effects.

According to CRAMSA’s Corporate Affairs Manager, Hugo Lecaros, “this activity is very important for us. We have seen a high turnout, which ratifies the community’s interest in knowing in detail our project, which will be emblematic for the region and the country because it will contribute with a concrete solution to the regional water demand, making an unsatisfied desire of the Antofagasta community come true”.

Information on the scope of the initiative was disseminated through panels and audiovisual material, complemented with a presentation by CRAMSA experts on the company, the engineering works, the environmental plan and details of the “Aguas Marítimas” project, specifying its impacts, mitigation and compensation measures.

The meeting was attended by Pablo López, president of the trade association, “Asociación Gremial de Buzos Mariscadores y Ramas Afines” of Caleta Coloso, AGREBUMAR, together with the members of the union, who have recently been approved an area for the management and exploitation of benthic resources in the Bolfin sector, who expressed that “this project involves the construction of a desalination plant on the coast, which is of great interest to us fishermen, so the information they have given us and the fact that they can listen to our opinion and observations is very important”.

Rocío González, president of the sport club Sandboard Desierto Extremo, valued the instance highlighting that it is “very positive that this activity is carried out because we were able to know everything that is planned for the sector, the dimensions that they want to reach in the long term and how it could benefit or affect us. I think it is essential that people be informed”.

For Miguel Alcayaga, director of the Antofagasta Association of Small and Medium Industrialists (AGPIA), this initiative will change the face of the region. “This is a project that will dignify living in the North of the country. It will also benefit many of our members, improving their quality of life and that of each of their workers,” he said.

Similarly, the past president of the Chilean Chamber of Construction – Antofagasta (CChCA), Iván Jara, highlighted the benefit that this project means for the region. “It opens doors and brings water for everyone, citizens, industrial neighborhoods and agriculture”.

Maritime Waters Project

The project is promoted by CRAMSA Infraestructura SpA, which aims at creating an increase in water availability in the region, both in the urban radius of the cities of Antofagasta and Calama and in the industrial sectors, mining and even the development of local agriculture, constituting a concrete contribution to the productive sectors of the region.

The company will use seawater as a source, so a desalination plant will be built in Caleta Bolfin, located 25 kilometers south of the center of the city of Antofagasta.

CRAMSA, in its strategy of early engagement with the communities surrounding the project, will hold new Open House events on December 14 and 16, in the town of Baquedano and in the city of Calama, respectively.