Projects within Development Poles are in different stages of progress

The last two sectors declared were Montúfar and Tulcán, in the province of Carchi.

From November 2018 to date, nineProductive Development Polesin the country, focused on attracting productive investments to specific sectors through tax benefits, such as exemption from income tax for five years or more.

However, these projects have not escaped the crisis generated by the pandemic of theCOVID-19which paralyzed a large part of the productive sectors, although in any case this has not prevented the declaration of more populations.

The last was Tulcán, on February 2, in which an initial investment of $ 3.9 million and the generation of 2,850 jobs, between direct and indirect

The objective of this sector, as explainedJackson Torres, Vice Minister of Production and Industries of the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries (MPCEIP), is to promote the productive vocations of the area such as commerce, transport, services, agriculture and livestock.

Thus, the province of Carchi added its second Development Pole in less than a month. The first was the Montúfar canton in December 2020, in which a project is planned that will bring together several dairy companies in the area.

The vice minister added that the poles have three classifications: productive, agro-productive and multisectoral, which are assigned to the sectors, depending on the economic activities that are developed within the pole.

The first to be declared was in the province of Cañar, thePole of Productive Development of the Austro,focused on metalworking, on November 3, 2018.

A month later, on December 5, 2018, theFootwear Productive Development Polein the Unamuncho parish in Ambato (Tungurahua). It was followed byLogistics and Industrial Development Pole in the Mejía canton, on February 19, 2019, and theItulpark Logistics and Industrial Development Polein Pifo, on April 4 of the same year; both in the province of Pichincha.

Meanwhile, on May 8, 2019, thePiady Industrial and Logistics Development Pole. On September 18, 2019, it was declaredAgroindustrial Development Pole to the Zapotillo canton, in Loja; and finally in the same province, on January 16, 2020, the last sector declared before the pandemic was the Catamayo canton as an Industrial Development Pole.

But, in what state are these Development Poles? According to Torres, the poles currently have different statuses. For example, he indicated that the initiatives of Zapotillo, in Loja; and del Piady, in Guayas, are already making commercial agreements.

In the latter, "they are quite close to achieving what was expected," said the president of the Chamber of Industries of Guayaquil,Francisco Jarrin.

“Among the companies that are already confirmed in the Piady there are distribution centers, pharmaceutical companies, plastics companies; and there is already one that works, which is Holcim, which installed a plant in the complex, ”said Jarrín, who was also concerned about the impact of the pandemic on the projects.

“There is great concern about the paralysis of economic and productive activity due to the pandemic. It is necessary that we set the example by working and investing and not stopping, this type of initiative is of vital importance to keep the productive apparatus afloat and encourage investment ”, analyzed the head of the industrial union.

Meanwhile, other projects, such as Itulpark and Mejía (Pichincha) and Catamayo (Loja) are in the pre-investment and investment stages for the implementation of facilities, infrastructure and services.

Finally, the vice minister said, due to regulatory and regularization issues, the Tulcán and Montúfar projects, in Carchi, and Ambato are seeking to structure business models and attract investment.

In this last,Lilia Villavicencio, president of the National Shoe Chamber (Caltu), acknowledged that they have a one-year delay due to the issue of the pandemic.

"We have suffered a delay due to the pandemic, today we are in the second stage, which is the urban approval of the project and then the third stage would come, which is the financing," said the leader, who announced that according to the feasibility studies this would be about $ 8 million.

Villavicencio assured that after the financing stage the construction stage will come, which will take about 8 months. "It also depends on whether we have the resource once the project is financed," he said.

The project includes a construction in a space of around 15 hectares where 23 companies of the footwear production chain will be located, in what would be called the City of Footwear, which had planned to lay its first stone in March 2019.

Meanwhile, Jarrín suggested improvements in benefits for investors.

"There are benefits that could be extended by changing certain specifications in them, for example, establishing the exemption from income tax in 15 years regardless of the place or type of investment made, the double deduction of the corresponding depreciation and amortization expense to the acquisition of any asset and payment facilities in foreign trade taxes from 6 to 24 months regardless of the type of import ”, emphasized the president of the Guayaquil Chamber of Industries.