{"id":60014869,"date":"2024-04-25T12:18:37","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T11:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/?post_type=photo_story&p=60014869"},"modified":"2025-04-04T15:07:37","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T14:07:37","slug":"chile-revives-controversial-punilla-reservoir-project","status":"publish","type":"photo_story","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/water\/chile-revives-controversial-punilla-reservoir-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Chile revives controversial Punilla reservoir project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On 21 November 2018, five families were forcibly evicted<\/a> from their homes near San Fabi\u00e1n, a commune in the mountainous province of Punilla, in central Chile. Police arrived<\/a> unannounced to inform residents of their fate, and guarded workers linked to the Italian construction company Astaldi, as heavy machinery reduced their houses to rubble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These acts were in the name of Nueva La Punilla, a long-planned, multi-purpose reservoir project. Designed for hydropower and irrigation purposes, the Punilla reservoir could flood an area of 1,700 hectares behind a 136-metre-high retaining wall on the \u00d1uble River. Should it be realised, the project would also flood parts of the Nevados de Chill\u00e1n-Laguna del Laja Biological Corridor, a Unesco Biosphere Reserve<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 2018, residents secured an injunction to suspend<\/a> the eviction orders through an environmental tribunal in the city of Valdivia, in southern Chile, while a lawsuit was being prepared against the reservoir project. However, in April 2020, the same tribunal ruled<\/a> in favour of Astaldi, finding no environmental damage or psychosocial impacts had occurred, and denying residents\u2019 claims for reparations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Demolished houses can still be seen near the Punilla site, destroyed after five families were forcibly evicted in 2018 as Italian company Astaldi, which had been granted the concession for the project, sought to begin construction (Image: Nicole Kramm \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Astaldi had been granted the concession for the project by Chile\u2019s public works ministry in 2016, and had an environmental impact study approved, but it is yet to break ground: Astaldi\u2019s contract was cancelled<\/a> in 2021 amid a financial crisis at the company, and the ministry\u2019s miscalculation of the reservoir\u2019s storage capacity. The Chilean state ultimately paid an unknown amount to Astaldi in compensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chile\u2019s public works ministry has since issued<\/a> a new tender for the Punilla reservoir, initially setting a 19 April 2024 deadline<\/a> for technical offers, but which has now been extended<\/a> until December. As of August 2023, 21 companies<\/a> had registered their interest, among them five Chinese companies, including the China Harbour Engineering Company and China Civil Engineering Construction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, those evicted from their homes find themselves in temporary accommodation, still awaiting a definitive solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"seated<\/div>
Iv\u00e1n Labr\u00edn Villalobos, one of the evicted residents, now lives with relatives. Some compensation schemes have been offered to residents by the government, but they say no final relocation solution has been provided. (Image: Nicole Kramm \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Compensation lacking<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe mountain range for me is my life, it has given me everything. Once you\u2019ve gotten old, it\u2019s difficult to be taken away from where you\u2019ve made your life,\u201d says H\u00e9ctor L\u00f3pez Benavides, a 57-year-old livestock herder who has lived in San Fabi\u00e1n since his late twenties. He raised his family here and built a life raising cows, sheep and horses. During the evictions, his house was the first to be destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evicted residents had rejected a displacement plan drawn up by the public works ministry in 2018. L\u00f3pez says his community deemed the compensation offered to be insufficient. Months later, the expropriations went ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has been five years since we were evicted and it has been hard,\u201d says L\u00f3pez. \u201cIt was a tremendous change because we had to start from scratch and manage on our own; there was no help from anyone to start our lives elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"closeup<\/div>
Like other livestock herders, Labr\u00edn lost his animals and source of income following the 2018 evictions. Residents had rejected a displacement plan offered by the public works ministry, which proposed compensation for land and houses but not for livestock. (Image: Nicole Kramm \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Currently, L\u00f3pez works tending livestock at a farm in Laguna Las Truchas, over 40 kilometres east of his former home, and not far from Chile\u2019s border with Argentina. Without land of his own, he says his typical way of life and income stream has become impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iv\u00e1n Labr\u00edn Villalobos says he has suffered similarly. Another local livestock herder, Labr\u00edn kept hundreds of goats before the evictions, which he was forced to sell; some were lost. He now lives with relatives.

L\u00f3pez recounts the project\u2019s citizen participation process: the public works ministry, he says, \u201cthought we were ignorant people from the mountains, but I never allowed them to treat us like that.\u201d During this consultation, the ministry collected livestock data to calculate compensation payments for their expropriation. According to those affected, they were awarded CLP 30 million (USD 30,600) per plot of land and CLP 18 million (USD 18,360) per house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"woman<\/div>
Miriam Fuentes Contreras at the site of her demolished family home. She says she later accepted a settlement for the eviction out of necessity, despite deeming the government\u2019s compensation to be insufficient. (Image: Nicole Kramm \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"man<\/div>
Labr\u00edn walks among the rubble of his former home. He was told he could receive compensation to build a new house on a nearby plot, but on the condition that he fund the construction of a road to the site himself. (Image: Nicole Kramm \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Miriam Fuentes Contreras, who was also evicted with her family, says the ministry\u2019s plan did not include compensation for income losses; a \u201clivestock plan\u201d was mentioned but never realised. She says their housing payment was therefore not enough for her family to conserve their lifestyle. \u201cWe refused for a long time to sign the agreement to receive the amount they offered us,\u201d she says. \u201cWe finally did it in 2022, out of necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labr\u00edn says he recently signed the agreement for the same reason. Near the expropriated area, he now maintains a plot of land on a hillside behind his former home. He was told he could receive compensation to build a new house here, but on the condition that he self-fund the construction of an access road to the site. \u201cI shouldn\u2019t have to do that,\u201d Villalobos points out. \u201cIt was up to them to relocate me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n