FEB. 10, 2020

President Piñera highlights investment in health, education, energy and tourism in the Araucanía region: “This is our commitment so that the region can take a major leap forward”

During his tour of the area, the President inspected progress at the construction site for the new Hospital Padre Las Casas, held a meeting with local entrepreneurs and led a regional cabinet meeting.

President Sebastián Piñera highlighted progress with health, education, energy and tourism during a visit to the Araucanía Region this Monday.

The Impulso Araucanía (Boost Araucanía) Plan consists of 628 projects and investment of more than US$8.2 billion. To date, 121 projects are complete and 504 are underway.

“The Araucanía Region needs to make a major leap forward in the areas of social development, opportunities and infrastructure. The Impulso Araucanía Plan is our commitment so that this region can make that leap,” said the President in a joint statement with regional governor Victor Manoli.

The President began the day with a visit to the construction site for the new Pedro Las Casas hospital, which is scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2020. The hospital will benefit 380,000 people in the municipality and surrounding areas like Temuco, Melipeuco, Vilcún and Freire.

The hospital is one of the 11 Impulso Araucanía Plan projects. Others include health infrastructure projects in Angol, Curacautín, Carahue, Cunco, Makewe, Villarrica, Collipulli, Pitrufquén, Lonquimay and Vilcún. Total investment exceeds 390 billion Chilean pesos and the projects include 760 new beds for the new healthcare centers.

The President then went to Temuco, where he met with entrepreneurs from the region to talk about the Government’s initiatives in favor of SMEs, including tax and finance benefits, as well as the ways in which the Government is boosting jobs and economic reactivation.

The President also led a regional cabinet meeting with local officials. 

The President highlighted the setting up of 13 Bicentenary Schools of excellence in the Araucanía Region, the provision of more than 25,000 housing subsidies, the paving of 812 kilometers of rural roads and agricultural development projects benefiting 4,200 families. 

This is in addition to the development of wind farms and tourism in the region.

“We are very strongly promoting private investment to generate more jobs, better salaries and more opportunities,” said the President after visiting the location.