By IPS Correspondents
MONTEVIDEO, Nov 3 1996 (IPS)

Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital, and the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre are feverishly developing their potential in the competition to become capital of the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR).

The two cities have emerged as the likeliest candidates for headquarters of the sub-regional trading bloc.

The “title” will not only be honorific. The chosen city would benefit from the establishment of many organizations, high-level officials, new services, jobs, and an increase in tourism, among other advantages.

The two cities have many characteristics in common: a “human” scale (i.e. a population close to 1,500,000 for the Uruguayan capital and 200,000 for the city of Rio Grande do Sul), a large middle class, and relative social peace with low levels of violence.

The quality of their environments is also similar, with low levels of air and noise pollution. During the high season, both cities attract large numbers of tourists, on their way to the beaches in the east — in the case of Montevideo — and south, in the case of Brazil.

They also share comparable characteristics in the political sphere: both urban centers have been governed for more than five years by parties of the left (the Broad Front coalition in Montevideo and the Workers’ Party in Porto Alegre), and have been carrying out similar municipal policies.

The issue of the capital of MERCOSUR, however, transcends the municipal realm and is being considered a “state matter” in both countries, which are ruled by conservative parties.

“To be the Brussels of MERCOSUR is an objective that should bring together the political leadership and the social forces, above and beyond political and corporatist interests,” said the mayor of Montevideo, Mariano Arana.

Arana was alluding to the capital of the European Union, and cited the example of the advantages that the establishment of the Union’s institutions had for the Belgian capital.

But he also pointed to the central role played by the Belgian government in obtaining Brussels’ goal, by making available resources in land, creating urban infrastructure, and fomenting a series of activities to increase the city’s “comparative advantages.”

Those are precisely the advantages that both Montevideo and Porto Alegre are trying to develop.

The Brazilian city understands that its “position as a port of entry to the largest partner of MERCOSUR and Latin America in general” is its biggest “plus,” according to Ubiratan de Souza, general planning coordinator of the mayor’s office.

He also mentioned that Porto Alegre is “well integrated” in relation to Uruguay and Argentina, not only because of geographical proximity, but also because a large part of its population speaks Spanish, or in any case a “Portunol” which is superior to that of the rest of Brazilians.

In this sense, municipal authorities in Montevideo argue that their city offers its condition as capital of a country which has served as a nexus between the two giants of MERCOSUR (Brazil and Argentina), and the fact that its has a good — though insufficient, as many acknowledge — communications infrastructure.

Regarding the services needed to absorb the expected flow of international officials, business people, conferences, and all types of meetings that the capital of MERCOSUR would attract, Montevideo officials point to city’s recent “boom” in hotel construction.

By 1997, Montevideo’s first five-star hotel will be finished, and a second one the following year. By the year 2000, the city is expected to have a total of five five-star hotels. There has also been an increase in the capacity and quality of three and four- star hotels.

In terms of terrestrial communications, Porto Alegre is building a highway in the north and south of the city, which will improve access to the airport and to the that go towards Uruguay and Argentina.

Montevideo plans to conclude by 1997 the broadening of the route which unites the capital with Punta del Este, the most important beach in Uruguay and a main point of attraction for many tourists in the region.

In terms of urbanization, authorities in both cities have similar plans: to consolidate downtown areas — which have become very deteriorated in the past — improving cultural infrastructure, and build health facilities.

Porto Alegre has been able to rejuvenate parts of its downtown, which had undergone a process of decay, by placing strong points of attraction.

For that, the municipality has refurbished the Public Market and the “Usina del Gasometro,” the former by converting it into a tourist center, and the latter by making it into a cultural center.

Work has also been done to cover the Araujo Viana theater, which used to be an open theater, and increase its capacity to 3,000, thus providing the city with a large performing arts center.

In Montevideo, municipal authorities have concentrated on restoring the dynamism of its downtown area, by offering a multiplicity of cultural attractions, such as the creation of an exhibit complex.

An ultra-modern performance center, destroyed by fire in 1971, is also currently under reconstruction — after 25 years of abandonment — thanks to funding by the national government.

Putting a halt on urban growth towards the periphery is another objective of Montevideo’s municipal government, which is seeking to define its urban space and concentrate its services.

The competition for the “capital of MERCOSUR” — the outcome of which should be defined soon — will ultimately be decided in the political sphere, as the advantages of one over the other are not the determining factor, according to the conclusions of a seminar on regional urban matters which took place in Uruguay.

Montevideo has certain advantages: it is already the headquarters of the Administrative Office of the sub-regional bloc and is located in one of the two relatively least developed countries in the region, which are generally favored in order to balance things out.

Confident that Montevideo will be chosen, an old and noble building, currently in shambles, located in front of the coastal highway, will be renovated in order to serve as the headquarters of the bloc.

Porto Alegre, on the other hand, has one advantage which, according to municipal authorities in Montevideo, “cannot be ignored”: “Brazilians’ capacity for marketing, for promoting themselves internationally, with forcefulness and congeniality.”

Close to 200 artists from all disciplines from the state of Rio Grande do Sul are currently meeting in Montevideo, offering performances and presentations in closed and open spaces, in markets and streets, in the context of a tour of MERCOSUR countries.

“It is difficult for us to do something like that,” said one municipal official.

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