New Ñuble Region created as of today, with three provinces and 21 municipalities
Ñuble Region, officially born at midnight this Thursday, 6 September, has become a reality for its 480,000 inhabitants.
As of midnight on Thursday, 6 September, Chile officially had a new region: Ñuble, comprised of areas and municipalities that, up until the day before, were a part of the Biobio Region.
The new region has 480,000 inhabitants and a total surface area of 13,178.5 km2. It is administratively divided into three provinces (Diguillín, Punilla and Itata) and 21 municipalities, with Chillán as its regional capital.
The 21 municipalities are:
Diguillín Province: Municipalities of Chillán, Chillán Viejo, Quillón, Bulnes, San Ignacio, El Carmen, Pinto, Pemuco and Yungay. Its capital is the city of Bulnes.
Punilla Province: Municipalities of San Carlos, Coihueco, San Nicolás, San Fabián and Ñiquén. Its capital is the city of San Carlos.
Itata Province: Municipalities of Quirihue, Cobquecura, Ninhue, Treguaco, Coelemu, Portezuelo and Ránquil. Its capital is the city of Quirihue.
Public services
The new region made its debut with 90 public services that are already fully operational. One of them is the Regional Governor’s Office presided over by Martín Arrau - ratified by President Sebastián Piñera -, who was the presidential delegate in charge of setting up the new region over a six month period.
The Government further announced the three provincial governors: in Diguillín, Paola Becker; in Itata, Rossana Yáñez; and in Punilla, Cristóbal Martínez.
The Regional Secretariats (SEREMIs) of the Treasury and Mining Ministries will be bi-regional by decree of delegation -that is, for Ñuble and Biobio- while the National Indigenous Development Corporation (CONADI) and the Education Quality Agency also fall under this status as they are macrozonal institutions.
The creation of Ñuble –the 16th region of Chile- responds to the need of its inhabitants, who “have very different cultural and spatial dynamics from those of its current regional capital, located in the city of Concepción, in the Biobio Region”, as established in Law 21.033 that created the new region.