[NYTr] Venezuela Inaugurates New "Socialist Production Centers"

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Venezuelanalysis - July 31, 2007
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2369


Venezuela's Chavez Inaugurates New "Socialist Production Centers"

By Chris Carlson

Mérida -- As part of a policy to promote a new socialist production
model for the country, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has inaugurated
several new "socialist production centers? around the country in the
last few days. Last Thursday and Friday the president traveled around
the country to inaugurate companies to increase agricultural production
as well as the production of housing. On Sunday, the construction of a
cotton-processing plant was inaugurated.

"This is the agrarian revolution, agrarian socialism that has begun
now," said Chavez during the inauguration of the Antonio Nicolás
Briceño Socialist Production Center in the state of Trujillo. "We are
building it, but for this there will have to be patience and more
patience, work and more work to have a socialist homeland," he said.

This "socialist center," located in the Andes Mountains of Trujillo, is
part of a joint project between Venezuela and Argentina with the
purpose of activating the agricultural production in the country.
According to government websites, the objective is to promote "citizen
participation in the regional and national agricultural production
plans with the intention of guaranteeing a permanent and growing supply
of meat and dairy products, as well as their derivatives, under a
socialist production model."

The Venezuelan government invested 12 billion bolivars (US$ 5.6
million) in the project, which includes the purchase of almost 500
Argentinean dairy cows to increase milk production. The center also
will be used to increase the production of semen and embryos in order
to increase national beef production.

This center, like another similar center opened in the state of
Barinas, consists of almost 750 hectares of land equipped with an
irrigation system, a Barrio Adentro health clinic, educational
facilities and space for the construction of animal corrals to house
horses, goats, pigs, sheep, and cattle. These centers will be used to
plan and develop agricultural projects, to offer technical assistance
to farmers, carry out studies and research, and develop programs for
the production of genetic material to strengthen national supply.

Petrocasa

On Friday, Chavez headed to the state of Carabobo west of Caracas to
inaugurate a new company that is using the nation's petroleum to
produce houses. The state company Petrocasa, part of the Venezuelan
petrochemical industry Pequiven, will build houses out of oil
derivatives like polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Planks made out of the oil
derivatives will be filled with concrete, creating solid building
materials to substitute the traditional wood beams and bricks.

The new factory, of which similar ones Chavez said will be built in
other parts of the country, is part of the national development plan
being carried out by the government, as well as a way to supply
much-needed housing to the Venezuelan population, many of whom still
live in inadequate slum housing. And in addition to new housing, the
new company has created an immediate 441 jobs directly and more than a
thousand jobs indirectly.

"This is part of the new national strategy: stretch our arms and expand
the development capacity of the country," said Chavez. "That day has to
arrive where there is not one single shanty in Venezuela. There must be
respectable houses for respectable people."

Chavez also pointed out that building houses with PVC is a viable
option in Venezuela since it is a derivative of natural gas, which
Venezuela has in abundance. He also stressed other possible uses of PVC
in building schools and other buildings given its advantage for hot
climates and ease of use.

The main mission of Petrocasa will be to construct houses for the
housing projects of the Ministry of Housing and Habitat. The company
was built with an investment of 60 billion bolivars (US$ 28 million)
from the government that went to the construction of infrastructure as
well as the purchase of the required special equipment for production
of PVC.

According to the president of Pequiven, Saul Ameliach, houses made with
PVC are "resistant to any bad weather, to ultraviolet rays, to fire,
and totally safe and suitable to live in." He also explained that the
houses made by Petrocasa are large and comfortable, 70 square meters,
and have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Each house takes only 8 days to
build.

Cotton Processing Plant

On Sunday, during his TV and radio program Aló Presidente, Chavez also
inaugurated the construction of a "socialist" cotton processing plant.
The Cabruta Socialist Agro-industrial Cotton Processing Plant will be
built in the central state of Guarico with a total cost of 50 billion
bolivars (US$ 23 million).

On the northern coast of the Orinoco River, the construction of the
first phase of the plant will begin next month to finish in April of
2008, and will be equipped to carry out the first phase in cotton
processing. The plant is intended to process the cotton produced around
the Orinoco River in the states of Guarico and Apure.

In addition, six thousand new hectares of cotton were planted in
preparation for this project. Chavez added that the long fiber cotton
grown in this region is among the best in the world.