A project approved six months ago and promoted by Cuban entrepreneurs to create a small brewery in Havana has not been able to start production due to containment of bureaucratic procedures, according to official media on the island.
It is the Local Development Project (PDL) Destino Habanero, one of the new approved MSMEs that since February 2021 had become news after the signing between the Cuban company Maquimport and the Chinese Jinan China-Germany Brewing Co LTD for the importation of a mini-brewery, the axis of this enterprise, according to what posted by official website Cubadebate.
Overcoming the limitations with payments through international financial institutions, according to the aforementioned media due to the intensification of the embargo of the United States government that hinders the operation of Cuban companies, was the first obstacle that the project faced.
Before overcoming this inconvenience, the proposal had already obtained the approval of the Administrative Council (CAM) of the municipality of Playa in the capital, a stage described as “very bureaucratic” by Jorge Félix Álvarez, one of the leaders of the project.
The problems continued, because due to a long paperwork process, the project has not been able to settle on the corner of 39 and 42, where only the ruined facilities of what was the emblematic gastronomic establishment remain. Peepin that capital municipality.
According to what was reported to Cubadebate by Juan José Pellón, another of the project managers, in order to lease the space and begin the construction actions, “the Beach Administration Council, through the real estate company, needs its assets to be transferred from the commerce and gastronomy company” . “Do you think it’s fair that a place like this be lost, when we have the resources to repair it?” He asks himself.
“We had a meeting at the Playa CAM, where its president, the representative of ONAT, the Banmet (Metropolitan Bank) and a representative of the real estate agency, which is in charge of renting the physical space, were present.” Juan José points out, but “six months have passed and we continue to receive the same response. We do not understand why these things happen, a fact that goes against the country’s directives to promote non-state forms of management. What we want is to give a useful life to a deteriorated and abandoned place, ”says the entrepreneur to the aforementioned medium.
By the way, remember the report by Oscar Figueredo, that territorial development focuses on making the most of the endogenous resources of a territory, such as land, industrial capacity and science. At the same time, he underlines that this idea is in perfect harmony with what was expressed on numerous occasions by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who has recognized that it is precisely in the locality where “all processes must be developed, with autonomy, with integrality, to seek that development that we want”.
Regarding the town, the Cuban president has warned that “nobody can propose something that hinders their work or does not take into account its characteristics and, consequently, cause damage to it or limit the development of its management,” the publication specifies. According to data provided by Aizel Llanes Fernández, territorial director of the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP)and managed here, during the Cuba 2021 Economic Productive Day, 423 local development projects were counted in the nation, 314 of which are of an economic-productive nature.
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Since 2020, Cuba has had a policy to promote territorial development (PIDT), in accordance with article 68 of the new Constitution, which recognizes the autonomy and legal personality of the municipalities, opening the way to overcome the centralist, vertical and sectoral tradition. , and place the municipality as a key actor in development, analyzes the environment.
However, cases such as that of the PDL Destino Habanero show that bureaucracy continues to be one of the burdens that hinder plans to update the cuban economy, in crisis aggravated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of the embargo and the little effect of some of the measures to achieve social welfare.
Last week a 40-foot container arrived in Cuba with parts and pieces, and another with essential raw materials to start the venture, but now its owners do not know what they will do with them, he says. Cubadebate. “Where do we keep them until we can have a local? Who pays me if any of that equipment is damaged?” Jorge Félix told the media.
Faced with this situation, the entrepreneur contacted directors of the Provincial Company of Commerce and Gastronomy of Havana, who explained to him “informally” that the delay in this process is due to a change in the procedure for renting premises for the forms of non-state management. At the same time, they said that they “would be interested” in this case, but to date “we have not received any response from the agency that clarifies the reason for such a delay.”
