January 31, 2017
Urban Sprawl in Nogales?
INTRODUCTION: Hard to believe that the area on the road from Chilefarms to the town of Nogales has just sprouted a subdivision of parcels of land for sale. I haven’t seen development like this in the ten years I’ve visited here. I wonder if the number of homes built will have the same effect on this community in South America that big housing developments have on communities in the USA…demands on water and electricity, schools, increased traffic, subtle changes in community life. Time will tell.
Amazing. The heretofore sleepy area between Ruta 5 and Nogales 12 miles away is experiencing a boom in housing. On a bike ride from the farm to Nogales this afternoon I passed a huge area of cleared and leveled land with signs saying “TOPOGRAPHIA SUBDIVISIÓN PLANÓS” then “VENDO PARCELAS 5000 M SQ”
Businesses along Ruta 5 north and south of La Calera, a city of 50,000 eight miles from the Chilefarms in La Peña (an outskirt of Nogales) have appeared since my visit last January. The economy must be in good shape and jobs must be being created (sound familiar?). Saturday and especially Sunday parking places in the huge parking lot of super stores like Tottus and Sodimac and Falabella at the edge of La Calera are jammed.
During a weekday visit shopping for SIM cards, medicine from the pharmacy and a trip to an ATM machine for me, La Calera was bustling.
Pedaling back to the farm, I passed a house being built on land previously pasture. There’s a stark contrast between the house under construction and the ramshackle houses across the street.
Are there yuppies in Chile? We'll find out soon.
Sign advertising “TOPOGRAPHIA SUBDIVISIÓN PLANÓS”
One house being bult on the property.
Property is for sale, buyers build their own homes. Are there any restrictions about what is built? Who will maintain the roads, build the wells for water, install electricity? No matter what, the subdivisions will attract skilled and non skilled labor, increase traffic on roads now often used by tractors and men on horseback.
Chilefarms is on a rise at the left of the treeline in the distance.
The neighborhood road
Panoramic view, road from Nogales to La Peña is on the right.
New house being built on the road between La Peña and Nogales
This road heads to superhighway Ruta 5 about 12 miles away. The 2093 mile well maintained toll highway stretches from Puerto Montt in the south all the way to the border of Peru.
The location of the 5000 sq meter subdivisions (a little more than one acre) makes it an easy commute for people working in the large businesses on Ruta 5 like Propal and more recently built Europlant, Amdes Quality, and Emu Chile.
Propal is an international company that exports avocados, lemons, oranges, clementines, kiwis, and onions. Euro plant is a worldwide import/export company of fruits and vegetables. Andes Quality is a global company that exports raisins.You might have bought something produced by one of these companies when you shopped yesterday.
Photos by Paul A, Tamburello, Jr.
Progress affords opportunity and upward economic mobility for the citizens. It also affords corruption. What is important during this growth is for the elected officials to place the interest of their representatives
above their own and to manage the growth in a responsible way.
Posted by: Jeffrey P Piccoli | February 01, 2017 at 11:45 AM
I agree, Jeff,
as in the USA, it's important that the development benefit the people it's intended to and not line pockets of politicians and developers.
Posted by: Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka pt at large | February 01, 2017 at 04:43 PM
Good stuff, Paulito.
Posted by: David Connor | February 01, 2017 at 06:17 PM
Always interesting to read your dispatches, Paul.
I taught in Santiago for nine months in 2012 and for six months in 2014. I had the chance to do some traveling around the country and know what some of the agricultural areas look like. One of my students, an executive at the Chilean national television station, was a weekend avocado farmer. Yesterday I bought blueberries from Chile in my neighborhood Whole Foods market.
Santiago was booming with cranes all across the horizon. I guess the boom is spreading out.
I was also interested to hear more details about the fires. I spent some pleasant times in Cajon de Maipo. I can’t help wondering about how extensive the destruction is.
Posted by: Rita Towsner | February 01, 2017 at 06:24 PM