📋 Tender Overview
The intangibility of the Poechos reservoir and the surrounding areas that are owned by the Chira Piura Special Project (PECHP) was ratified by the representatives of the PECHP before regional councilors of Piura who are preparing a regional ordinance for the protection of this major infrastructure against the presence and persistence of 15 petitions and mining concessions authorized in Lima by the Geological Institute. Minero y Metalúrgico (Ingemmet) for more than 10 years and the possibility that new mining petitions will continue to occur over time. The president of the board of directors of the PECHP, Víctor Garrido Lecca Ramos, recalled that Ingemmet recognized these requests and mining concessions, despite the fact that they are located in the water mirror of the Poechos reservoir and without reporting it to the PECHP, which is the owner.
"We are concerned that time will pass and the possibility will continue to be left open that other petitions and approved concessions will continue to come from Lima. It is time to close this issue because we all know that anything can happen, even if they tell us that the owners of these concessions cannot operate because they have to follow an administrative procedure and present the permit of the PECHP, which is the legal owner of the infrastructure. This cannot continue to happen, we must be responsible for the present and future of the region," he said in his speech.
Benjamín Padilla, general manager, added that Poechos must be protected because it is the starting point for agriculture, provision of water for human consumption, energy generation, agro-export and diverse industry. "It is up to us now, at this time, to make it clear that there can be mining in the water mirror of Poechos or in the surroundings because it could affect all the activities that already exist around Poechos," he concluded.
Moisés Zapata, head of legal counsel of the PECHP, explained that it is clear what the area of influence of the project is, there is also the registry entry of the ownership of the properties and the declaration of intangibility of the project. For this reason, he assured that the PECHP should have consulted and asked permission from the owner of the land before the petitions and concessions were accepted, in addition to the Ingemet should have officiated to the PECHP in a timely manner or carried out the cadastral searches. For this reason, the PECHP, in parallel to the actions of the Regional Council of Piura, carries out actions to inform Ingemet regarding the situation and continue with the administrative nullity procedures.
The presentation of the regional councilors was also attended by the Regional Directorate of Energy and Mines, whose report recognized that the PECHP is a project that has legal protection and that is why these requests are 10 to 15 years old and they have not been able to follow their administrative procedure to be able to continue with their interest in exploring or exploiting the resources. He argued that they should first have permission from the PECHP and then submit their environmental impact studies and other procedures and, in each of them, permission from the PECHP is required. It was clarified that the petitions and concessions were not processed in the Regional Directorate of Energy and Mines because its competence is for artisanal mining and small-scale mining. They were processed and accepted at the Geological, Mining and Metallurgical Institute (Ingemmet) where mining concessions for medium and large-scale mining are processed and granted.
