Peru new airport construction amid controversy

Peruvian authorities and a representative of the South Korean government on Monday launched the next phase of the construction of the controversial Chinchero International Airport near Cusco (or Cuzco).

At an event organised by the Chamber of Commerce in Lima, the country's transport and communication minister and South Korea's interim ambassador celebrated their countries' cooperation on the project.

The Korean Airport Corporation will be acting as technical adviser for the project of building the airport near Cuzco, one of the country's most popular tourist destination due to its proximity to famous archaeological sites.

At Monday's event, South Korea's Interim Ambassador Sun Tae Park to Peru promised the consortium would run a clean operation and refrain for committing "any illicit act like the ones you have seen before with other companies".

He appeared to be referring to a series of corruption cases that rocked the country in recent years, linked to the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which secured contracts across Latin America through a network of bribes.

Various former presidents have been implicated, including one who committed suicide to avoid arrest, and another who is imprisoned in the US while his extradition process plays out.

The new airport, located in the Chinchero district of Urubamba province, will allow direct flights from Bogota, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Quito and Panama, among others.

Construction is expected to start in the second half of 2020 and be completed by 2024.

Cusco is the main arrival point for tourists coming to visit one of Peru's most venerated and protected sites: the ancient citadel of Machu Picchu, named World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

It is on this front that the construction of the new airport has proved controversial.

A group of activists, historians and archaeologists has claimed it could put in danger the conservation of such important historical and archaeological sites by increasing exponentially the amount of noise, traffic and uncontrolled urbanisation.

Natalia Majuf, a Peruvian art historian who started an online petition in 2019 to fight the construction of the airport, said the project puts at risk "numerous Human Heritage sites declared by UNESCO".

She also denounced the lack of specific clearances acquired by the government to construct in the area.