President Bachelet: “If we have one unpaid debt as a nation, it is bringing progress and development to Chile’s more remote areas.”
The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, inaugurated the Pisco Elqui Sports Complex in the municipality of Paihuano this morning. During her speech, she noted that this project “speaks of the Chile we want to build, that we want to keep progressing. A Chile where we can all have a better quality of life, one which implies dignity.”
The new complex, which will serve nearly 2,500 people, involved an investment of 1.9 billion pesos. It offers soccer fields, tennis courts, a heated semi-Olympic swimming pool, playing surfaces, and a first aid room, among other spaces. All of the facilities have running water, plumbing, electricity, natural gas, drip irrigation, and a sprinkler system. The complex covers a total of 1,500 square meters.
During the ceremony, President Bachelet said that this initiative is “a worthwhile investment because the focus here, in addition to quality, is the health, physical fitness, and use of free time of everyone who will use it.” She added that what is behind the project “is dignity, because if we have one unpaid debt as a nation, it is bringing progress and development to Chile’s more remote areas.”
The complex is made of brick framed by pillars, beams, chains, and reinforced concrete slabs. The roof structure is made of wood, and it has reinforced concrete retaining walls covered in stone and stone pavers from the local area. The roofing is metallic. It took 48 months to complete the project.
The President said, “I would like to announce that, at the request of the regional governor, I have declared the 14 municipalities of the Coquimbo Region, including Paihuano, water scarcity areas. What does this mean? It especially protects rural potable water, human consumption, and sanitation given the drought that we are experiencing.”
In closing, she said that “that is the Chile that we all want, a Chile in which we are all moving in the same direction, in which local government, the mayor and the municipal council, the provincial government, regional government, and the national government work together so that everyone can live a better life.”