User:Taarea/Chinchero International Airport

Introduction

Chinchero International Airport is currently being developed in the town of Chinchero District, Cusco Region, Perú. It is planned to replace Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport at 3720 meters (12,205 feet) above sea level. The long overdue airport project has created deep divisions between the local Chinchero communities. Furthermore, in addition to the financial controversy, many activists have also raised concerns over the  environmental, economic and cultural impacts of the project.

Alrededores de la Fortaleza de Chincheros, Cusco, Peru

Country

Peru

State or province

Urubamba

Location of conflict

Chinchero District

History

The tourism industry is a leading supporter of an airport in Chinchero. The area of Chinchero is located on a plateau high in the Andes overlooking the Sacred Valley of the Incas and the snow covered mountains of the Incan Citadel of Machu. These sites are Peru’s most visited tourist attractions and have been named UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The site is situated along a road linking Cusco, a major metropolitan hub, and Machu Picchu. The motivation behind the airport in Chincher is that it would increase tourism by providing easier access to the sites. However, despite the positive rationale, the project has been a source of conflict and division since its inception. The proponents say it will increase employment and bring revenue to the area while critics highlight servere socioeconomic and sociocultural impacts on the local customs of framing, weaving and long standing cultural structures such as traditional medicine.

Alrededores de la Fortaleza de Chincheros, Cusco, Perú

Main languages: Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, other indigenous languages

Main religions: Christianity (majority Roman Catholic and a growing number of evangelical Protestants), indigenous religions

Indigenous people to Peru include Achuar, Aguaruna, Asháninka, Shipibo, Huambisa, Quechua and Aymara. Together, all indigenous people comprise 45 per cent of the population. There are 51 different indigenous groups in Peru. According to the 2007 Census of Indigenous Communities, by far the most numerous are the highland Quechua, who comprise an estimated 83.1 per cent of the indigenous population. The second largest indigenous group is the Aymara population, with 500,000 people concentrated in the southern highland region near Puno. Lowland indigenous groups include Achuar, Aguaruna, Asháninka, Huambisa, Quechua and Shipibo. In addition, approximately 80 percent of Peru’s over 31 million inhabitants self-identify as either indigenous or mestizo (mixed).

Chinchero Area Textiles Demo

Local Chinchero Communities:

According to estimates published by the National Statistics and Information Institute Census, in 1993,  the Chinchero population was 9,146 people. In that study it was  estimated that by 2005, the total numbers of the inhabitants will be 10,531. This indicates a population growth rate of 1.2%. The main spoken language  of the area is Quechua.

Chinchero is a district in the northwest of Cusco. It is bordered by Yanacona, Huayllabamba or Urubamba district, and Lamay in the north. To the south, there is the Ayllupongo, Cachimayo, and Poroy district. Furthermore, to the east, lies the again the vast Yanacona community, in addition to the Ayllupongo community, Pisac district and the city of Cusco. Finally, to the west there are the Maras and Chacan districts.

Chinchero Area School Children

Yanacona:

The Yanacona loosely means slaves of the nobility. Traditionally, these people were specialists in various arts who supported the Incan rulers according to their talents. They were considered the Intellectual scholars as many Yanacona took jobs as teachers, sages, and guides of statistics. However, the Yanacona were not only named slaves to nobility because of their traditional roles. When the Spaniards came to Peru and conquered the Incas, the “Yancona” were characterized as traitors which references both the servants of some Yanacona that allied to the Spanish and those who became servants of Hispanics in other Central American ethnic groups such as Chile.

The Project

In 1978 the COPESCO - Plan Turístico y Cultural Perú-UNESCO (Peru-UNESCO Tourist and Cultural Plan) settled on a plateau in Chinchero, Peru as the site of a new potential airport project.

Machu Picchu, June 2009

The new potential airport was said to be expected to replace the Alejandro Velasco Astete Airport in Cusco which has been ranked as Peru’s second most important air terminal for international travel and served over 3 million passengers in the year 2016. The existing airport also has a 3.4km long runway.

The new Chinchero airport would exceed this capacity, expected to serve 5 million customers after its opening and 8 million in the long term, yearly. It is also planned to have a 4 km long runway, exceeding that of the Cusco airport.

Groundwork on the project began in early 2019, and is slated to be finished by 2023/2024.

There were 25 rumored bids put in on construction of the project, with the winner being Kuntur Wasi consortium of Peru’s Andino Investment Holdings and Argentina’s Corporacion America.

When Kuntur Wasi eventually pulled out from the deal, the project was mainly financed by the Peruvian government with assistance from South Korean and Canadian investors.

In 2020, the Peruvian government promised to the public that the new building project would not impact Machu Picchu in any way, but did not mention the surrounding areas.

Timeline of the Project

In the years between 1978 and 1988 there were several studies released which stated that this would be prime land for the proposed airport project. Then, in the late 80’s the project was sidelined as it was determined that the aforementioned studies were insufficient evidence for the optimality of this site.

In January of 2011 the project was officially approved and preliminary assessments began.

The original date set for groundwork to begin was June of 2013. In September of 2013 this date was pushed back which the Deputy Transport Minister stated was for further feasibility reports to be conducted.

In April 2014 the project was awarded to Kultur Wasi consortium who pledged to the project which was said to cost $538 Million, of which USD264.7 million would be public investment.

Kultur Wasi stated that the project was set to begin earthworks in early 2015, break ground no later than 2016, hoping the project would be completed by 2019 and fully operational by 2020.

In March of 2015 Kultur Wasi pledged to begin construction by September of that same year, only waiting for some preliminary reports to be completed before they could begin the project.

By September of that year the cost of building the airport was set at USD635 million.

In December of 2015 the project passed all its preliminary testing and a budget of USD637 million was set.

By January of 2016, the value of the airport had shifted drastically, down 33% in a bid to Valle Sagrado consortium, with the value of the airport being held at USD455 million.

In February of 2016 Peru Transport and Communications Minister Jose Ku stated publicly that the project was running on time and was on track to be completed by 2021, but by December of that year Kuntur Wasi was facing trouble having their finances approved, further delaying the progress of the project.

The government maintains that the project is set to be completed by 2021.

In December of 2016 the project was moved to begin on January 31st 2017. The public is also assured that the project is covered under Endeudamiento Grantizado Permitido which allows for debts related to this project to be assured by the government of Peru. Under this scheme, the Peruvian government, now under Pedro Pablo Kuczinsky, would return the original amount pitched by Kuntur Wasi with 22% interest.

Llama on Machu Picchu

By early February of 2017 the project had been pushed back again due to contractual disagreements between the Peruvian government and Kuntur Wasi consortium, in this time, the state had planned to assume 80% of the funding for the project and Kuntur Wasi was being investigated for collusion.

In mid-2017 Kuntur Wasi and the Peruvian government ended their contract and by early 2018 the project was set to take place entirely through government funding.

It wasn't until January of 2019 that groundwork on the site began, and in 2020, Peru's Minister of Transport and Communications Edmer Trujillo stated that the project was estimated to be finished by 2024.

Stakeholders

Government

Increase in foreign investment into the economy through funding the project, also better tourism infrastructure

Local Chinchero community

Laguna Piruay 2019

Loss of surrounding, The Chinchero Airport Project is already driving up land prices in the surrounding areas, with land in this particular area being valued at $20 per m2. There is belief that construction would deplete the Lake Piuray which provides Cusco with over half of its water supply.

Tourists

Better infrastructure to visit Machu Picchu

Archaeologists/anthropologists

Insurmountable loss of items/landscapes of historical value

Local businesses

Increased tourism means better business

Controversy

Martín Vizcarra, President of Perù

The Chinchero Airport project has been a source of great controversy since its original pitch in the early 2000’s, with members of several different communities speaking out against it on the basis of its social, historical and environmental implications.

An online petition run by local artist Natalia Majluf urged President Martín Vizcarra to stop construction in the Chinchero area and relocate the project. The petition states,

“An airport in the surroundings of the Sacred Valley will affect the integrity of a complex Inca landscape and will cause irreparable damage due to noise, traffic and uncontrolled urbanization. We invoke the President and the government of Peru to reconsider this project.”

and is cosigned by numerous academics, artists and community leaders from around the world.

On a social basis, the airport would have serious implications for the local community both in and around the Chinchero area in terms of their health and/or quality of life.

The socio-economic impacts could include displacement through loss of land, loss of livelihood, loss of traditional knowledge/practices/cultures through the emergence of a new tourist driven economy in the area and large scale displacement. These are likely to have specific impacts on women. There is also concern over illness related to the increase in pollution and from potential construction runoff.

Protest against the airport was reported in October 2014,  members of a women’s weaving collective expressed their fear about disappearance of traditions.

The list of potential environmental impacts is as long as it is complicated. The area was already under some environmental stress owing to the sheer number of tourists that visit Machu Picchu. In 2017 UNESCO reported that there were 1.5 million visitors to Machu Picchu in that year alone, almost twice the recommended amount. One of the primary concerns in terms of environmental damage to the area is that construction runoff will pollute Lake Piruay, which provides the majority of Cusco’s water supply, effectively cutting off water supply to one of the largest cities in Peru, and the city which garners the most tourism.

Town of Ollantaytambo

There is also concern that low flying planes over the Ollantaytambo will cause damage to the already fragile ecosystem of ruins and relics. There is also increasing concern about noise and air pollution that will result from planes flying overhead, especially if the capacity of this airport is accurate. It is also noteworthy that the Peruvian ministry of culture claimed to have conducted adequate research and claimed they would work to reduce the impacts of the construction project, there was evidence to show that they omit the existence of four roads similar to Ollantaytambo and also fail to acknowledge nearby lagoons, terraces and wildlife that would be affected by the construction.