Civil Society, Development & Aid, Environment, Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean, Tierramerica

ARGENTINA-CHILE: Citizens Want a Voice in Andean Tunnel Plan

Marcela Valente* - Tierramérica

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 5 2010 (IPS) - Agua Negra Pass today is an unpaved road that connects Argentina and Chile at 4,800 metres above sea level. But it is only open in the southern hemisphere summer months — December to March — and then only to lightweight vehicles.

The rest of the year, Agua Negra is closed due to ice and snowstorms. “Along some stretches there is just one lane, it’s very dangerous, the road breaks up, and there is always the risk of tire blowouts,” said attorney Silvia Villalonga, of the Foundation of Independent Citizens from the northwestern Argentine province of San Juan.

Currently, the main border crossing between the two nations separated by the Andes is Los Libertadores tunnel, joining the western Argentine province of Mendoza and the central Chilean region of Valparaíso, at 3,200 metres above sea level. Around 2,500 trucks pass through each day.

But that tunnel closes without warning due to snowstorms, and thousands of trucks — and their drivers and cargo — are left stranded on either side of the border.

In this context emerged the proposal to build a tunnel through the Andes further north, at Agua Negra. The Argentine and Chilean governments are in favour, while civil society organisations are demanding transparency and a place at the negotiating table.

“Having a tunnel could be very valuable for San Juan Province, but we have to look very closely at the costs and benefits,” Villalonga told Tierramérica.

The planned tunnel to connect San Juan with the Chilean region of Coquimbo is also a key component for the “Bioceanic Corridor” that would run from the port city of Coquimbo on the Pacific to the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, near the Atlantic.

At the 39th summit of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), held in San Juan in August, the presidents of the bloc’s countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and Chile, as an associate member, gave clear support to the project, which promises greater integration and improved flow of regional commerce.

But local citizens groups have their doubts.

“The San Juan government says it has feasibility studies of the route, but they were done without any participation by civil society, so there is no transparency in what is being evaluated,” said Villalonga.

The Foundation of Independent Citizens is not opposed to the tunnel itself. But its members are asking for participation in planning construction in areas near glaciers, which are important reserves of freshwater in this arid region.

“We expect an environmental impact statement available to citizens in a public hearing so we can be involved and know where they want to dig the tunnel, whether the glaciers to be sacrificed are important or not, because everything depends on the tunnel’s location — and we don’t know where that is,” explained the attorney.

Architect Alicia Malmod, of the National University of San Juan, told Tierramérica that the project is “necessary” because “it provides a strategic alternative for development of the province in terms of integration and exchange opportunities.”

Malmod does not see the tunnel as an isolated project, but as part of the inter-ocean route, which is an axis of the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA), an inter-governmental mechanism of the 12 nations of South America for promoting transportation, energy and communications projects.

The IIRSA plan is for an international tunnel at a cost of 800 million dollars. The Brazilian Bureau de Projetos e Consultoria is in charge of the technical studies needed to bid on the project, which is to begin in 2014 and would take four years to complete.

For a long time, said Malmod, “Argentina’s central-west region, and San Juan in particular, has been the backyard, the backside of a country that only looked outwards. A project of this magnitude would redefine this area, with new roles and resource potential,” she said.

The tunnel will generate “local development” with the construction of settlements with services that would improve the quality of life of the area’s inhabitants.

In particular, the departments of Jáchal and Iglesia could reinforce their identity as regional centres and preserve their cultural heritage, said the architect.

But Malmod is also wary of the project’s potentially negative impacts, stressing that greater citizen participation is necessary to prevent them.

“We have a particularly fragile system because of the aridness and seismic activity. But in a broader environmental view, the social fragility is an unavoidable component,” when considering costs and benefits, she said.

Also under way in the border and glacier area of San Juan is mining activity, which also “needs debate, discussion of legislation, environmental regulations and monitoring agencies,” she said.

According to the San Juan Chamber of Mining, there are 26 projects in the province in different phases of development: one is already in operation, five with approved feasibility reports, and 20 are in the exploration stage. Most are along or near Argentina’s border with Chile.

The most controversial is Pascua Lama, of the Canadian firm Barrick Gold. Environmentalists charge that it is damaging the glaciers.

On Sep. 30, the Argentine Congress passed a law to protect glaciers by establishing limits and controls for infrastructure and mining projects in glacier areas.

In San Juan, says Malmod, what is needed is a land use and regulation plan specific to this zone.

(*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.)