The Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM) “He is walking, there is much more experience, he is doing well,” said the General Raul Castro this Saturday when visiting that megaproject that the Government describes as “the most important and with the greatest future in the country”, but it only has 36 businesses currently in operation.
As published the page of the Presidency in CubaCastro promised “every effort to keep it that way.”
However, according to Ana Teresa Igarza Martínez, general director of the ZEDM, “To date, 62 businesses have been approved —36 in operation— for a committed investment amount of more than 3,000 million dollars”.
“Of these, more than 1,000 million have already been executed. In the Zone there are 21 countries, 11 multinationals; and more than 15,000 jobs have been created,” he added.
Raúl Castro led the check that the Government carries out every month to the works of the ZEDMaccompanied by Miguel Díaz-Canel, and the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz.
As reported by Osvaldo Bravo Borrego, general director of the Engineering Services Company of the Comprehensive Directorate of Mariel Projects, in the Zone —founded in November 2013 and with an area of 465.4 square kilometers— 50 investments have been completed and another 21 are running.
Some 4,173 million pesos have been allocated to basic and complementary infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, railways, aqueducts, hydraulic, electrical and communication networks, as well as 349 homes for people who had to relocate due to the investment process and workers of the Zone itself, he said.
The manager spoke about the work carried out in the ZEDM to generate electricity from sunlight, which has allowed the production of 67 peak MW. 90% of that electricity is delivered to the National Electric System, for which the owners of those systems receive income, he added.
On this subject, Díaz-Canel said that every new investment made in Mariel must include generation from renewable energy sources.
The general director of the ZEDM explained the development and business program and considered that “the environment is highly competitive, with more than 500 similar enclaves in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
He described as one of the “main attractions of Mariel” the Single Window System, “which processes all the licenses, permits and authorizations of investors; as well as a scheme of financial operations in freely convertible currency.”
In the words of Igarza Martínez, “the pillar industries of the ZEDM are concentrated in logistics services, biotechnology, the biopharmaceutical industry and advanced manufacturing.”
According to one CONNECTAS researchthe more than 800 million dollars invested in the ZEDM project until 2019 had not been enough for what would be the new engine of the Cuban economy, in the midst of draft problems and an insignificant Cuban economy.
The modernization of the Port of Mariel was carried out by the Brazilian company Odebrecht, the protagonist of a scandalous case of corruption. For this, the company was benefited by the BNDES with 68,000,000 dollars in discounts, for interest, derived from loans.