The Committee of Ministers, in its session held on April 13, ratified the Environmental Qualification Resolution (RCA) granted by the Valparaíso Environmental Assessment Commission in October 2024 to the Maratué Urban Housing Development in Puchuncaví, and rejected the claims filed against the project.
Maratué is a long-term, primary housing initiative (70%) that aims to support the region’s growth in an orderly and sustainable manner. It also seeks to contribute to addressing the region’s housing crisis, focusing on quality of life and urban integration. It plans to build a maximum of 14,180 homes (with 50% green spaces) over a 45-year period, at a rate of 300 housing units per year, to maintain the continuity of the town’s urban center. Of these homes, at least 2,000 will be subsidized and built through SERVIU projects.
The project also includes a 125-hectare conservation area, almost twice the size of O’Higgins Park in Santiago, where protection and ecological management measures have been implemented and will be strengthened in the project’s next phases. These include monitoring the belloto forest, managing the conservation area, and consolidating Maratué Park, a space open to the community, along with beach access.
Resolution of the Committee of Ministers
This resolution comes after an extensive and rigorous environmental assessment process that began in 2017, meaning more than eight years of processing. It is worth noting that this is the second Environmental Qualification Resolution obtained by the project: the first was issued unanimously in 2019, but in 2021 the Committee of Ministers decided to revise its assessment on four of the 19 points analyzed. Following this, between 2022 and 2024, the initiative focused on addressing the requirements of the Committee of Ministers through regional authorities and incorporated the Foster + Partners studio, along with the BL Arquitectos office, for the final design and master plan of the project.
“The Committee of Ministers’ decision is very good news for the region. It not only confirms the technical soundness of the project, but also provides the necessary certainty to continue advancing its development and consolidating the conservation and protection measures for the environmental attributes that are a fundamental part of the project,” stated Claudia Lería, director of the Maratué project.
With this approval, and in accordance with the project schedule, Maratué will immediately begin the necessary operational procedures to move forward with its development, starting with and prioritizing subsidized housing, which will be coordinated with SERVIU (the Regional Housing and Urban Development Service) and the community housing committees, representing more than 500 families. This first phase is a structural component of the project and forms part of the commitments made during the environmental assessment process, allowing for a concrete and timely response to local housing needs.
Key data:
- Name: Maratué Urban Housing Development.
- Location: Puchuncaví commune. It borders Maitencillo to the north, Campiche to the south, Puchuncaví to the east, and the coastline to the west.
- Investment amount: US$2 billion.
- Total project area: 1,015 hectares of urban land.
- Number of homes to be built: 14,180 over 45 years.
- Number of homes eligible for subsidies: more than 2,000.
- Conservation area: 125 hectares of a Nature Sanctuary and 50% green areas incorporated into the project.