19/04/2013
Honda plans to invest in wind energy in the state Autor: Jornal do Comércio
The automaker Honda chose the Rio Grande do Sul to make an investment in the area of wind energy. The project will be executed in Shangri-La, on the north coast of the state, and should be announced in an official way, next Friday. Without going into details on the amount to be contributed and how the initiative will be conducted, the Secretary for Development and Investment Promotion (SDPI), Mauro Knijnik, addressed the topic at yesterday's meeting of the Council of Economic and Social Development of the State (CDES -SR).
On occasion, Knijnik highlighted the initiative as an example of investment in new technologies, niche that the State intends to invest more and more. In addition, the Secretary determined that the design of Honda confirms "the resumption of dialogue between the Rio Grande do Sul and the multinationals." Wanted by the Journal of Commerce after the meeting, the Secretary declined to detail the investment. The company, through its spokesperson, also preferred not to comment at this time.
The city of Shangri-La, also through its spokesperson, confirmed negotiations with Honda, but said the project is still "on the back burner." So, the mayor of the municipality, Cilon da Silveira, will only talk after the final confirmation of the company. The goal is not to create expectations about the contribution.
Although investment come to the fore at the meeting of the CDES-RS, the focus of the meeting were the logistics bottlenecks for transportation of cargo and that interfere with the competitiveness of products gauchos. The meeting had been requested by the Federation of Industries of the State (FIERGS). "We hope that works leave the paper and come true. The logistics cost of Rio Grande do Sul is very expensive, reaching 18% of GDP, "says the organization's president, Hector Müller. According to the official, this percentage is above the national average (15% to 17%) and far from practiced in countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (9%).
On occasion, the leaders of the productive sector to the government presented the project Competitive South, released in August last year. Made by federations of the three states of the region, in partnership with the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), the initiative raised a number of works in different modes such as railways, waterways and highways, required to meet the transport demand expected to in 2020.
Altogether, 42 infrastructure projects specifically benefit the Rio Grande do Sul, with a total investment of approximately U.S. $ 18 billion. Much of propositions involving federal routes, some of them have even begun to be implemented. Therefore, the coordinator of the council's infrastructure FIERGS, Ricardo Portella, asked for help from the state government to help unlock Brasilia in some situations that are underway. "In a matter of infrastructure, we stand behind many states. We have 12,000 kilometers of paved roads, while the Paraná has 22,000. If we compare ourselves with St. Paul, there is a disaster, "he says.
Even with the concern with the current logistical situation of the State, Portella believes that in recent years there have been positives. He praised a number of initiatives of the federal government in the State, especially work related to the Investment Acceleration Program (PAC). "The PAC is a reality. With the program, the state was able to leave a level of annual investment of U.S. $ 100 million to almost R $ 2 billion, "he says.
