Diaz-Canel, Raul Castro and Cuban PM visit strategic enclave in the country

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 14 (ACN) The first secretary of the central committee of the Cuban communist party, Army General Raul Castro Ruz, the president of the country, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, and the prime minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, visited on Saturday morning the Special Development Zone of Mariel, a crucial enclave for the nation, located in the north of the province of Artemisia (western Cuba), 45 kilometers from Havana.

Raul, Diaz-Canel and Marrero -accompanied by the deputy prime ministers, Ramiro Valdes Menendez and Alejandro Gil Fernandez, as well as heads of different entities- received an extensive explanation about the investment process deployed in the sectors that have been established there.

According to Osvaldo Bravo Borrego, general director of the Engineering Services Company for Integrated Project Management, 733 hectares of lands have been completed since the second half of 2014, with the necessary infrastructure for water, electricity and communications services, among others. Besides, 317 kilometers of roads are ready.

In the Special Zone, he highlighted, more than 3 billion pesos have been invested since 2011. In this 2020, which has been complex due to the situation the country has faced, the investment plan we have outlined will be fulfilled.

The executive offered details on each of the sectors they work in; the incorporation of national industry in the infrastructure of Mariel; and the dredging work being done in the bay, a vital issue for the future of the Zone. Regarding this, the Army General indicated to continue doing the corresponding dredging so that the port can receive the ships to come, qualified as super post-panamax. According to some sources quoted for this report, at present these ships reach 130,000 tons, 366 meters in length, 13,500 containers and 16 meters in draught.

The presentation to the country's top management was also made by the director of the Special Development Zone Mariel Office, Ana Teresa Igarza Martinez, who indicated that, since the foundation of the place, has joined the development of infrastructure and attracting investment. So far, she added, 55 businesses have been achieved: 31 in operations; and they are spread out in important fields such as the food, light and steel industries, construction, electronics, logistics, energy and the financial and banking branches.
In the Special Zone, more than 11,700 jobs have been generated, both directly and indirectly, she continued.

Eduardo Martinez Díaz, president of BioCubaFarma, also participated in the meeting and offered details about the Industrial Biotechnology CIGB-Mariel, a research and industrial complex with 100% Cuban capital that will fulfill the most demanding standards of that sector in the world.