Tractors, bulldozers, lefts, cranes… a whole range of industrial heavy equipment takes over Pabexpo’s showroom, the stage for the 10th International Construction Fair. This event is an invitation for professionals in this field to exchange and show advanced technologies and to boost business opportunities and work contracts.
The event covers different areas within the construction sphere: lighting, equipment and machinery, decoration, engineering and projects, hydraulics, tools and hardware, energy, informatics and communications, construction solutions, commercialization and woodwork.
A total of 160 firms (132 foreigners and 28 Cubans), coming from 23 nations, occupy 4 158 square meters. Among the national participants there are enterprises form Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Las Tunas and Ciego de Avila provinces. IMECO, a company for the import and export of construction supplies, is making hard efforts to diversify autochthonous productions in the international market and to maintain operations with Venezuela, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, China, Mexico and Bolivia.
“Our interest at this Fair is to promote our work and show foreign investors their possibilities in hiring us”, explained Mayra Cura, operations director of the Construction Design and Engineering Business Group (GEDIC by its acronym in Spanish). This Group has three enterprises working on Mariel’s Special Development Zone and other touristic projects in the North keys.
Switzerland and Portugal are taking part in the event for the first time, whileCanada, Mexico, Panama, Italy and Spain have participated in every edition of the Fair, since it opened in 1998. However, Italy and Spain are best represented.
Resigumis among the first ones, backed up by almost 20 years in the Cuban market. “For us, every fair is a challenge –says Lisandra Perez, technical specialist and supervisor of construction works– because it makes us develop even further. This event always brings technological innovations and it represents an opportunity to introduce the latest developments internationally”. Around these days the company has arranged joint works with Varadero’s engineering services companies so as to agree on projects for the tourist sectors.
From the Iberian Peninsulaarrive at the Fair enterprises with experiences in significant operations in Cuba. That is the case of La Fuente, which has taken part in works in the Panorama, Capri andMeliáVaradero Hotels, Jose Marti Airport, HermanosAmeijeiras Hospital, Havana’s Grand Theater, and Miramar’s Trade Center.
There is also BasqueGroup Ugao, which hassupplied Cuba equipment, technical assistance and raw materials for the construction of water decanting to Cayo Coco, through the first rock road over the sea built in the country. Negotiations in this case are arranged through an office in Camaguey province and joint enterprise Bioenergía Caribe S.A.
As a result of its commercialcharacter, FECONS has become the perfect space for direct contact between suppliers and customers, for being updated on the offers of goods and services and for assessing new export and import opportunities. “It’s impossible to do what you don’t know –notes Maria de losAngeles Domingo, executive assistance of Sur Caribe, a Spanish society with representation in Havana–. I think that the Fair is interesting and necessary in terms of boosting businesses and knowledge”.
In addition, there are eight organizations from the “South American giant” under the Brazilian Agency for Export Import and Investments Promotion, Apex Brazil. Suplextradeand FM Coempar have become quite known, while Odebrecht gets lots of attention due to its work in Mariel’s Development Zone. It is working on part of the Container Terminal, the Logistic Activities Area, the railway and the roads. Besides, it is carrying out the Believe Program (Programa Creer), an initiative of professional training for workers of the Mariel Harbor.
The 10th Scientific and Technical Construction Conference is taking place in parallel with the event. About 80 dissertations on housing and urbanism, construction investment process, environment, local production of construction material, among other topics will be presented at the Riviera Hotel. The awarding ceremony will be held on Friday afternoon in the modality of Gear and tools, Products, Services, Stand Design and Construction systems.
According to Angel Vilaragut, president of the organizing Committee of the event and first vicepresident of the Construction Ministry, nowadays Cuba has develop significant construction works mostly in terms of harbor development and dredges, tourism, hydraulic systems, as well as in terms ofthe creation and expansion of capacities in the pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries.
This isall happening in a context of limitation of state and business functions by the Construction Ministry (MICONS by its acronym in Spanish), as the ruling organism of this activity in the country. The housing problem, low quality finish, insufficient production of materials and the loss of qualified labor force are some outstanding issues, taken into account in institutional balances with the results of the year 2013.
In the meantime, the priorities established are: to bring in self-employed workers and cooperatives of the sector, to sustain supplies for renovations and constructions that are not carried out institutionally, to boost local material productions, to update the technological park and to increase the export of goods and services.