The highway project for the future Guayaquil airport (Ecuador), which would involve the construction of a tunnel under a nature reserve, generated controversy and a confrontation between the city’s mayor, Aquiles Álvarez, and the environmental activist and former candidate for vice president Andrea González Náder.
The area under controversy is the Cerro Blanco Protective Foresta private reserve of 6,078 hectares that contains one of the last remnants of dry forest on the Ecuadorian coast and is located at the southeastern end of the Chongón Colonche mountain range, near the urban center of Guayaquil.
The confrontation began on Wednesday when Álvarez commented on social networks that he had had a meeting with the Minister of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, Sade Fritschi, “to coordinate collaboration in obtaining licenses and starting the construction of the new highway. that will connect with the airport Daular.”
”This 27-kilometer project has been segmented into two phases. The first, 13.5 kilometers long, begins at the height of the Espol (Escuela Politécnica del Litoral), crosses Cerro Blanco and concludes at a crucial undertaking on the Via a la Costa. The second phase culminates near the Daular airport,” added Álvarez.
González Náder immediately asserted that “they cannot touch Cerro Blanco” because “this ecosystem in critical danger of extinction, according to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), has an order from the Andean Parliament for its protection.”
“Build your airport without further destroying what little we have left,” added González Náder, who cataloged Cerro Blanco as the last refuge of the howler monkey in Guayaquil.
The mayor of Guayaquil He responded to the activist that “no one is going to touch any Cerro Blanco.” “We are not irrational. We are clear. The project is available for review. Guayaquil It has to advance, it will advance without affecting any protected area, we will never affect the environment,” Alvarez emphasized.
This Friday the manager of the Airport Authority of Guayaquil (AAG), Pablo Pita, explained to journalists that the instruction received by the mayor is that “any work carried out has the least possible environmental impact.”
”This is why we are going to develop the necessary environmental studies to make the best decisions,” Pita highlighted.
The manager of the Guayaquil airport explained that to find out the feasibility of the tunnel that would pass under Cerro Blanco, 3 kilometers long and 300 meters deep, “a sample will be taken that does not involve clearing vegetation or invasion of the protected area.” .
Drilling will be carried out for 20 days to obtain the rock core and the results will be expected in June.
With this, the viability of the work, the technology, the use of resources and its environmental impact will be known, the Municipality of Guayaquil stated in a statement.
On the road that connects Guayaquil with the coast, there is an influx of 40,000 vehicles daily, so with this new highway the municipal authorities seek to alleviate this congestion.
Source: Gestion
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