Seven agro-production companies are allies of Yachay Public Company

Ecuadornews:

Although the priority of the Public Company Yachay is to complete the works of the City of Knowledge, in Urcuquí (Imbabura), before being liquidated in 2021, the works continue paralyzed.

These are works such as the rehabilitation of four of five buildings for classrooms, dining halls, auditorium of the Yachay Tech University and technology transfer centers called TT1 and TT2. According to Jorge Martínez, manager of Yachay EP, it is known what should be done and how much it costs, but there is no liquidity to execute said works, due to lack of endorsement from the Ministry of Finance. That intervention is around USD 50 million.

This company is under evaluation and is part of the state optimization plan. In accordance with the economic reality, actions were taken such as replanning the Master Plan. Among other things, the occupation for the urban layout of the project was reduced from 1,600 to 418 hectares.

In that perimeter, some 120 hectares are contemplated for an industrial park. At the same time, the Special Economic Development Zone (ZEDE) has been set up and this is expected to attract the industry.

The Executive called for closer links with productive sectors to generate research and technological innovation. Last June a call was made to companies to work in partnership. The call was answered by 19 firms interested in being partners of Yachay EP, in different sectors, but Martínez still reserves the names of the firms.

Meanwhile, seven agro-production companies were already working. One of them is Prigourmet, a New Zealand ecuadorian merger that invests USD 2.5 million. It sows asparagus in 107 hectares. Its manager, Rolando Dávila, assures that they offer 70 fixed work positions and that in the future they will need 600 people for the harvest and post-harvest phases. Another is Mastercubox SA, an Ecuadorian company that produces alfalfa cubes for animal feed. They have planted 150 hectares in Yachay.

Martinez says that before applying the austerity measure, expenses were reduced by around USD 2 million. 120 officials were unrolled. “We went down from 17 advisers to 1 and 48 directors to 25.” Today in this company 610 people work. Between 2015 and July of this year the company received USD 256.1 million, from the Treasury and self-management.

The expenses bordered 164.8 million. So there was a surplus of USD 164.8 million. That, according to the law, returned to the State, says Martinez. He commented that they are curious figures because assignments are announced and then cuts.

This year, for example, it started with an allocation of USD 80 million and then announced a USD 50 million match to fulfill the presidential commitments. But then came the decree of austerity, a new order of adjustment and we left tables, concluded the Manager.

According to Francisco Rendón, head of the Public Company Coordinating Company, the City of Knowledge project must go to Yachay Tech University. That is why we are currently working on defining a road map for the transition. 1 652 students, in the university The Yachay Tech University has not received any information regarding the competences or changes that it could face, with the liquidation of the Public Company, as they responded via email.

The university polygon, defined as the space within the City of Knowledge destined to this center of studies, has 47 hectares. They are used by means of an Act of Occupation provisional until the definitive transfer. The ‘U’ has 1 652 students, 999 of them in the second and ninth semesters.

They focus on applied sciences and engineering. Until September 2019 they hope to have their graduate school. Its current budget is USD 16.9 million. 78.15% goes to personnel expenses and until August 31, 60% of this allocation was committed. The assets of the university currently reach USD 33.1 million, while its liabilities are 2.1 million and its assets total USD 30.9 million. (I)

Source: https://www.elcomercio.com/actualidad/ecuador-empresas-agroproduccion-aliadas-yachayep.html