CMPC begins construction on a free public park in Nacimiento

Work has already begun on what will soon become the township’s green lung in the Bio Bio region.

Investment: approximately 2.9 billion pesos

A dream long in the making is finally coming to fruition. With budget approval from the Board of Directors at CMPC, construction has already started for the cultural park in the township of Nacimiento, located in the old CMPC Celulosa stadium in the heart of the city.
The space is intended to be a place for the residents of Nacimiento and visitors alike where they can hold social, cultural, sport and recreational events and activities, all geared toward improving quality of life.

Given the current context, the President of CMPC Mr. Luis Felipe Gazitua; General Manager Mr. Hernan Rodriuez; the Mayor of Nacimiento Mr. Hugo Inostroza and other prominent figures toured the site of the new Park.

The area will cover 4.5 hectares and includes a cultural amphitheater with a capacity of 1500 people, a children’s playground, trails, lookouts, an artificial lagoon, parking for 40 vehicles, pedestrian pathways, public restrooms, administrative offices and warehouse.
After the tour Luis Felipe Gazitua, President of CMPC, assured all those present that the company as a whole sincerely desires to contribute to the city, and ratify their commitment to the township of Nacimiento.

“We are a relevant actor in the township and as a must we need to become part of the community by launching initiatives that benefit everyone” commented Gazitua in regards to the building of the CMPC Park.

For his part Harnan Gazitua, General Manager of CMPC, noted and valued the fact that not only residents and neighbors in Nacimiento would enjoy the Park, many of the nearby communities could also benefit from it. He even went so far as projecting future success not unlike that of Alessandri Park in Greater Concepcion, where there are over 160,000 visitors every year.

“Just as we started with the Alessandri Park, which has been successful in cultural and educational aspects, we fully expect Nacimiento Park to attract people from Nacimiento itself, and the surrounding townships, all of who will have access to different activities” he states.

Hugo Inostroza Mayor of Nacimiento, was delighted and well-content with CMPC’s huge investment in the township, a sizeable contribution that will benefit thousands of people.
“I’m pleased with the decision to build a Park, even more so that it’s in the city. It incorporates recreation and culture in a location where it can be easily distributed. The Park will improve quality of life (…) It will be open to local families, a place where they can congregate, something they can be proud of right in the city” he believes.

In addition, Inostroza pointed out that forming a new agreement with CMPC in his opinion is proof of their social commitment to their neighbors, like the agreement formed with the CMPC Foundation led to the provision of educational material.

Investment and Construction
The project was approved by the National Council for Culture and Arts (Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes) and accepted according to law for Cultural Donations at the start of 2015, with total investment coming to 2.9 billion pesos for a 16-month construction period starting at that date (July 2016). The project, once it has reached its peak, will require 46 workmen. Those workmen will be locally sourced in coordination with OMIL (Municipal Office for Labor Information) and Neighborhood Councils. To date, 14 out of 15 of those hired workmen are from Nacimiento.

Landscaping and Top Tier Infrastructure
The Park will require large scale urban intervention, and architectural staging and landscaping will be left in the renowned and very capable hands of the national architect and landscaper Juan Grimm, who after 30 years experience in designing mega parks, has built over 600 open spaces ranging from gardens to parks in Chile, Argentina, Peru and Uruguay. “We hope to turn this place into a unique location in the south of Chile; a public space, free for the family to enjoy, surrounded by native trees, bushes and other plant life and flowers endemic to our country” assures the architect.

The park’s lush vegetation will include trees and bushes native to the area such as coigue, canelo or winter’s bark, peumo or Chilean acorn, quillay or soapbark and olivillo, as well as the ñirre or antarctic beech, Chilean oak and rauli beech; all these plant species won’t only contribute significantly to landscape design with their imposing beauty, but they will also provide shade in summer, and shelter in winter.