Las Salinas submitted the proposed Participatory Monitoring Plan (PMP) to the Superintendency of the Environment within the established deadline, as mandated by the Committee of Ministers, which authorized the bioremediation of the 16 hectares of soil in front of Los Marineros Beach in Viña del Mar. The deadline was three months from the publication of the Resolution of the Committee of Ministers, which was made public on July 12. With the presentation, Las Salinas continues to rigorously comply with the itinerary outlined by the environmental authority to complete the last phase of soil remediation. The monitoring plan proposed by Las Salinas is based on the principles of transparency and effective access to information, and details the objectives and tools for carrying out environmental monitoring. It also describes the previous work developed by Las Salinas with community organizations and the international references consulted to deliver a proposal that ensures compliance with the instructions of the environmental authority. What remains undefined to date are the responsibilities indicated by the Committee of Ministers to the Municipality, which consider the installation of a working group with Las Salinas and the designation of the actors that will participate in the PMP. In any case, the non-response of the local government does not prevent the presentation of the plan or the progress of the land remediation, but it wastes a space for transparency with the community that the local authority itself requested. Unfortunately, the obligations of the Municipality of Viña del Mar with the Monitoring Plan remain unanswered, and we have never received a concrete response. However, even though this lack of definition does not stop the progress of the remediation process, we hope that in what follows, with the collaboration of the municipal authority and councilors who have expressed their willingness to support this process, a working table can be set up with the Municipality and the community’s right to be informed will not continue to be postponed”. Labarca added that “we are talking about land reclamation in an emblematic area of the city that sets a precedent in the recovery of land in the country. It is very necessary to ensure that the residents of Viña del Mar will be able to know the progress of the remediation of the land, as a pillar of the due exercise of the right to information. There is still time to carry out a process that also sets a positive precedent for the necessary public-private relationship that should exist to promote projects that contribute to the recovery of the city. In the months that follow, Las Salinas will be focused on following the international bidding process for the consortium that will carry out the soil bioremediation starting in the second half of 2024 and awaiting the SMA’s decision on the proposed Participative Monitoring Plan.
