The coast of the department of Colonia is going to change completely. The area where the smart city +Colonia will be developed has seven kilometers of coastline, a dimension of 515 hectares and is strategically located: Adjacent to the departmental capital and minutes from Buenos Aires, Argentina. This makes it a city of “two shores”, as its promoter, Eduardo Bastitta, likes to call it.
The real estate project is one of the most ambitious. The genesis of the planned city took place in the 1980s, when Eduardo’s father, Carlos Bastitta, acquired the coastal land. Although there were several initiatives to develop in that area, +Colonia was conceived as such three years ago and, between comings and goings, achieved the approval of the Departmental Board in April 2022.
This Thursday the formal construction of the city began after the discovery of the foundation stone with a plaque where you can read +Cologne 13.10.2022.
“This is a dream that, in addition to being collective, is intergenerational because the first to see that idea was my father,” said Eduardo Bastitta, promoter of the project, filled with emotion.
+Colonia is projected as a hub of the knowledge economy industry in Colonia del Sacramento and a benchmark city in Latin Americawhich expects to receive dozens of global companies, and to house throughout its construction 30 thousand inhabitants. The offices, homes and premises shops will be surrounded by the natural environment offered by the geography of the place —the complex contemplates a 50% green areas—, sustainable policies and the fastest internet connectivity in the region.
Most apartments in the “Uruguayan Silicon Valley”—as some call it—will be between 30 and 50 square meters, although one of the developers, Eudico, also proposes building units that are between 50 and 100 square meters. In the first stage of concretion, part of the Genesis district, which is made up of seven towers and requires an outlay of US$100 million. This first phase is expected to be completed by 2025.
+Cologne
This will be the smart city (render of +Colonia)
Total, the investment required to complete Genesis is US$500 million and it will have capacity for three thousand inhabitants. The work plan includes a total of five districts and, in principle, five years are estimated for the development of each of them.
According to Bastitta, the disbursement of the real estate project is based on demand, which constitutes 80% of the investments. The equity (own resources) is 20%.
“We have well-founded hopes that this project will have an enormous scope and generate a positive effect for the department and the country, which will bring about a fundamental transformation effect, given that it will generate hundreds of jobs,” said the mayor of Colonia, Carlos Moreira , in dialogue with Coffee & Business.
The project is awaiting the approval of environmental permits by the National Directorate for Quality and Environmental Assessment (Dinacea), which is under the purview of the Ministry of the Environment, to start building on the property.
Moreira also expressed his hope that Dinacea quickly approves the project so that works can begin.
Bastitta recognized the support from the national and departmental government to develop +Colonia. Asked about the environmental permits, the businessman said that “they are responding to the latest queries” requested by the agency about the project, which require “the extension of some studies” previously presented. “The interaction (with Dinacea) comes in handy and we are hopeful that +Colonia works will start at the beginning of next year and develop some infrastructure works by the end of 2022,” said Bastitta, who also acknowledged that the construction of the city “is imminent”.
+Cologne
This will be the smart city (render of +Colonia)
The businessman wants to attract inhabitants from all over the world, but mainly from Argentina and Uruguay. That is why Bastitta wants +Cologne to be “a city of two shores”. and recognized that began dialogue with the administration of the City of Buenos Airess, in order to strengthen the link with Colonia to “promote the Buenos Aires downtown, which has lost vitality” in recent years and the future planned city.
Between investors, companies and other agents, +Colonia has the support of 180 actors, asserted Bastitta, who also assured that almost 20 companies have already closed their respective agreements to take place in what will be the “Uruguayan Silicon Valley”. They are CloudGaia, Endeavor, Autho, Humand, Agrotoken, TurismoCity, Agua Local, Nuqlea, Oikos, Cocos Capital, Drone.Oops, Newtopia, Platform 5, Pomelo, Henry, InCube, Jungla and Bonds.
