The earthquake that took place on February 27th not only caused great material damage, which certainly covered the infrastructure, also it was the loss of nearly 500 lives and left thousands of helpless compatriots who lost their homes, their source of work, and saw collapse the cities where they were born. There is no doubt that the earthquake struck a chord in all Chilean society and saw how human fragility can be victimized by the force of nature. In our case, it showed how many works, believed to be irremovable and unbeatable, collapsed. |
Neither the disaster, nor the damaged infrastructure left us with our arms crossed. On the contrary, we were immediately present, confronting the situation, and concessionary personnel started, a few hours later, working to provide needed connectivity to the country. We owe them recognition and appreciation, even at life risking situations they assumed their responsibilities in places that did not even have communication. |
I believe that as a guild we have been part of the reconstruction process, which has been recognized by various Government authorities, privately and publicly.
We will meet the target we have set ourselves. Apart from very few exceptions all works in concession will be in perfect condition before the end of the year.
It has been heard our message that we are the best alternative in times of crisis.
We have human capital and resources to not only to engage the reconstruction process, but to actually repair damaged infrastructure and, more importantly, to become active participates in new projects such as hospitals, schools, prisons, cities, etc.
However there is no easy task. We require urgently the regulations of the New Law on Concessions to operate, to avoid delaying the implementation of this process.
We will need quick answers from MOP (Ministry of public works) and we will fight for public-private relationship to become a reality.
We are confident that the concessions industry and COPSA’s place as a reliable and responsible guild will allow us to collaborate with our partners to put in place whatever is necessary to uplift the country.
Herman Chadwick
President of Copsa