Valparaíso: Progress in Barón Park, Port Center, and Muelle Prat

Key projects and initiatives for the development of Valparaíso's coastline were part of the discussion during the second session of the year of the City-Port Coordination Council (CCCP), an instance that brought together regional authorities, representatives from the public and private sectors, as well as organizations linked to the port and urban activities of the city.

Among the topics addressed, the progress of the Barón Park project, the development of the future Port Center, and the renovation works of Muelle Prat stood out. The meeting was led by the regional governor, Rodrigo Mundaca, along with the mayor of Valparaíso, Camila Nieto, the Regional Ministerial Secretariat of Housing and Urbanism of Valparaíso, and the general manager of Empresa Portuaria Valparaíso, Franco Gandolfo.

Regarding Barón Park, the Seremi Minvu reported that the works have reached 87% completion, in addition to presenting the ongoing efforts to define the management, operation, and maintenance mechanisms for the future public space.

Marcelo Ruiz, Seremi Minvu of the Valparaíso region, highlighted that "Barón Park is one of the great bets we are promoting to recover Valparaíso's coastline and integrate this space into the citizenry. Today we have reached 87% completion and we are working to ensure it can be fully enabled for the community. But our commitment goes beyond finishing the works: we are creating the conditions to ensure its conservation, security, and long-term operation, with a long-term vision. This project demonstrates that we are advancing in recovering quality public spaces and that public investment can transform emblematic places in Valparaíso into new meeting points for its inhabitants."

In the same vein, Rodrigo Mundaca, regional governor of Valparaíso, stated that "it is a public space recovered for the community, recovered for the city of Valparaíso, recovered for the Valparaíso region" and also highlighted the progress in the Coastal Zone Strategic Plan, commenting that "having governance in which the Regional Government, the Municipality, the Minvu, and the Port participate, shows that we have the capacity to agree. I believe that all the actors who currently participate in the City-Port Coordination Council in Valparaíso are very aware of the importance of this port city, of the importance of not only moving cargo but also generating quality employment, making good use of public spaces, and, above all, continuing to maintain our oceanic leadership status in Latin America."

In turn, Camila Nieto, mayor of Valparaíso, added that "it is fundamental for our city, and we hope that we can truly reach the end of the year with a park fully enabled for the community of Valparaíso." She also expressed that "important steps have been taken. One of them is this instance of coordination and governance of the Coastal Zone Strategic Plan, which has a series of initiatives that are important for the reactivation of Valparaíso, which are works that, in part, Empresa Portuaria has committed to, but there are also public entities that must commit to this Strategic Plan."

The communal authority also referred to the other works aimed at providing renewed public spaces to the citizenry, such as the remodeling of Muelle Prat and the start of works on the Port Center. "This also connects with what we are asking the national government for, which is to invest in moving the Carabineros area towards the Plaza Aduana sector, to also generate reactivation in this sector, which is part of the World Heritage Site. So these are projects that seem to us to dialogue with each other, that collaborate with each other," said Nieto.

For its part, Puerto Valparaíso reported that the necessary permits for the Port Center works, an initiative located at Muelle Prat, have already been obtained, where progress in the procedures for the remodeling of this traditional city space was also reported. These projects are part of a set of investments for this emblematic sector of Valparaíso, which also includes the development of works in Plaza Sotomayor and its surroundings.

Franco Gandolfo, general manager of Puerto Valparaíso, specified that "this space of the City-Port Coordination Council is consolidating as an instance, not only for debate, monitoring, and development of ideas, but also for promoting the various initiatives that exist and that relate and link the city of Valparaíso with its port, with its diverse port, logistics, and tourism activities, and with this powerful coastline that has so many initiatives and development potential to uplift and continue contributing to the city of Valparaíso."

The session also included an update on the governance of the Coastal Zone Strategic Plan (PEZC), following the establishment on August 31 of a tactical-operative technical committee of the CCCP, comprising the Regional Government, the Municipality of Valparaíso, the Directorate of Port Works (MOP), EFE Valparaíso, and EPV, where it was agreed to advance towards a coordinated implementation agenda with a horizon to 2036, the year in which the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Valparaíso will be celebrated.