The Buenos Aires Province Government has created the Unidad de Coordinación Bahía Bristol, a new body to coordinate provincial agencies overseeing Mar del Plata's Bristol Bay district.
The area is one of the city's most emblematic, and is home to its state-run casino.
The decree, signed by Governor Axel Kicillof, places the new unit under the provincial Ministry of Government. It will be led by an Executive Director, appointed by the Government Minister.
The unit's mandate covers infrastructure, economic development, tourism, culture and urban planning projects tied to the district, and includes coordinating between provincial agencies, civil society organizations and private entities operating there.
The decree also created a nine-member advisory commission with representatives from the Ministry of Government, the Ministry of Production, Science and Technological Innovation, the Instituto Cultural, the Instituto Provincial de Lotería y Casinos (IPLyC), the Dirección General de Cultura y Educación, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Services and the Ministry of Security.
Commission members must hold a rank no lower than Provincial Director and will serve without pay.
The measure responds to the fact that Bahía Bristol concentrates buildings and activities under different state agencies. Casino Central falls under IPLyC, while the neighboring Teatro Auditorium belongs to the province's cultural institute, and other facilities answer to the education and security ministries and the tourism secretariat.
Casino Central has operated in Mar del Plata since 1939, when it opened alongside the Gran Hotel Provincial as part of a single architectural complex designed by Alejandro Bustillo.
The two buildings have long stood as the visual centerpiece of the city's beachfront and rank among Argentina's oldest state-run casino operations still in use.
The Bahía Bristol area is subject to the highest level of heritage protection under General Pueyrredón municipal ordinances
