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Guayaquil
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great potential, therefore all its continental shelf is
regarded as oil exploration.
Present-day Guayaquil continues to expand its
tourism base, by beautifying and improving the
city. Ongoing projects seek urban regeneration
as a principal objective to the growth of the city’s
commercial districts, as the increase of capital pro-
duces income. The city was reconstructed in all
levels including sidewalks, parks, sewer system, it
took the power and telephone lines underground.
The city has also renovated its transit system with
the construction of multiple infrastructures (streets,
speedways, overhead passages, tunnels, etc.).
In August 2006, the city’s first bus transit sys-
tem, Metrovia, opened to provide a quicker, high-
capacity service. One of the main projects was
called Malecón Simon Bolivar, the renovation
of the promenade (malecón) along the Guayas
River with the addition of a boardwalk in 2000,
URBAN REGENERATION
covers several kilometers, including, shopping
center, craft center, restaurants, cinema, museum,
botanical gardens, river tours, games for children
and adults.
Nuevo Parque Histórico is a park created in a
housing development area called Entre Ríos (Be-
tween Rivers) in a mangrove wetland area. The
park cost the city about 7 million dollars. It is a ref-
uge for fauna and a zone of historical-architecture
preservation, and has a traditions-and-history exhi-
bition centre. The mayor has invested a lot of mon-
ey in constructions projects across the city. This
process has taken years, comprising the last two
municipal administrations of Leon Febres Cordero
and Jaime Nebot, and is still not finished.
With historic monuments, renovations and expan-
sions of levees, parks, Guayaquil has become
a national and international tourist destination.
The current municipal administration converted
Guayaquil into a place for first-class international
tourism and business multinationals as well as
headquarters for fairs and international events.