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Without a doubt, La Guajira needs investment in infrastructure to promote its integration and economic development, which at the same time helps to improve social indicators, in which it barely manages to occupy the last place.
In that sense, is President Gustavo Petro’s proposal to build an airport in Alta Guajira really the best option?
The airport project has the objective of improving the connectivity of a historically relegated department. La Alta Guajira, with its desert landscapes and cultural wealth, is a tourist treasure that has been wasted due to the lack of adequate infrastructure and the myopic attitude of Guajiro politicians, leaders and rulers who have only thought about their personal well-being.
Opinion
Building an airport in the area, in addition to generating employment and attracting investments in hospitality, logistics and transportation, also integrates Alta Guajira with the rest of the country, boosting tourism and promoting local commerce to reduce the social and economic gaps that have marginalized to the guajiros for decades.
Despite the promises of development, this project is not without risks. One of the most worrying is the environmental and social impact. La Alta Guajira is an area with fragile ecosystems and indigenous communities that have lived there for centuries, in many cases everything has the natural state that the book of Genesis narrates. Therefore, an airport has irreversible consequences for the environment and local culture if environmental studies and protection mechanisms are not adequately managed, which are not resolved in Colombia overnight.
The economic viability of the project is no less important. Building an airport from scratch in such a remote region, where everything has to be brought because nothing exists, involves high costs in financial and logistical terms. Therefore, instead of spending millions of dollars on a new airport, it is more reasonable to consider an alternative that is more feasible and can be sustainable: improve the Almirante Padilla airport in Riohacha and build a loading dock in Alta Guajira to connect it to the Caribbean Regional Train that currently only includes the departments of Bolívar, Atlántico and Magdalena.
Because? First, because of the lower costs. To invest huge amounts of money in a completely new airport, it is better to modernize and optimize the Almirante Padilla airport, expanding its capacity and improving its facilities to give it international stature. Riohacha is the entry point, not only for the majority of tourists who visit the area, but also for entry to South America, and improving this airport consolidates it as the gateway to the department, the country and the continent.
Secondly, taking advantage of the depth of the sea in Alta Guajira to build a cargo port represents a strategic transportation solution by adding La Guajira to the Caribbean Regional Train network and opens the possibility of linking the department with the local market. and international, facilitates export and generates logistics opportunities, along with passenger transportation to boost local tourism.
This approach will allow taking advantage of the strategic geographical location of Alta Guajira for maritime trade, while promoting tourism development with train routes to iconic destinations for travelers, seeking to revitalize the economy in a more sustainable way in addition to respecting its characteristics. environmental and cultural.
From an operational point of view, even in imagination, a cargo port connected to the Caribbean Regional Train has a greater impact on development than a tourist airport.
In conclusion, improving the Almirante Padilla airport in Riohacha and building a loading dock in Alta Guajira to connect it with the Caribbean Regional Train, including passenger transportation, offers a more balanced, sustainable and viable alternative, respecting identity and the environment natural.
It is time to make intelligent decisions that promote real development and solve people’s problems without compromising the future of a region that has waited so long for its opportunity to grow.
And as the philosopher from La Junta said: “I’ll leave them there…”
@LColmenaresR
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The post El Paraíso Airport: development or costly illusion appeared first on Minuto30.
2024-10-09 05:26:00
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