President Piñera visits Santa Olga and boosts the Reconstruction Plan: “It is undergoing a strong renaissance”
The President visited the Maule Region and met with beet farmers from Linares, inaugurated a police station in San Clemente, toured the emblematic town destroyed by forest fires, and met with residents and community leaders in Constitución.
President Sebastián Piñera toured Santa Olga and Los Aromos on Monday. He talked with residents and visited the reconstruction sites in one of the locations most affected by last year’s forest fires.
The President toured the entire area and highlighted the work that is being done to rebuild Santa Olga, which is progressing steadily.
He began the visit by giving Oscar Valdenegro, the President of the Santa Olga Seniors’ Club, the key to his new home. Mr. Valdenegro and his wife lost everything they owned last year.
“Every time the people of Chilean get together behind important, noble causes, we achieve the most wonderful things,” the President said, who was accompanied by Housing Minister Cristián Monckeberg.
The President’s visit also included meeting with residents and reviewing the paving of streets and lanes, the construction of retaining walls and a rural potable water system as well as the work sites for a new bus terminal and a soccer field and the replacement of social services and community spaces.
President Piñera also reviewed the progress that has been made on a 270-family housing complex that has been built to provide homes to residents who have been staying with relatives because they did not have access to housing of their own.
“I hope that the example shown by the families of Santa Olga inspires the entire country,” the President said.
The special visit to Santa Olga was part of an intense tour of the Maule Region, during which the President met with local officials in order to deploy regional development plans. He also met with Linares farmers impacted by the closure of the Iansa plant, inaugurated the new police station in San Clemente, and toured the town of Constitución.
“We have a very ambitious development program for the Maule Region and a very strong public investment program,” President Piñera said, highlighting the efforts to provide access to potable water, the construction of five hospitals and works to improve road and rail connectivity.