In the midst of the deep economic crisis that Cuba is going through and the sustained deterioration of numerous housing And buildings, the Cuban authorities confirmed another bad news: the reverse of the production of materials in the country.
As it transpired in the annual balance of the Business Group of Construction Materials (Geicon), in 2024 “a notorious decrease in the production of aggregates, wall elements, mud and cement elaborations, mortars, cast iron and asbestos roofs occurred in 2024, between other assortments. ”
In that meeting, aimed at reviewing last year, it was reported that “the productive plans of almost all the assortments of the 44 entities of the group were breached, and two of its central offices,” reviews A note of the newspaper Granma.
The report indicates that the productions of infinite tiles, molded tanks, carpentry in general, frames, doors and windows, sweeping and blasting were also affected, among others, although it does not offer figures on breaches or productions in general.
The information does not refer to the causes of this setback, although it predicts an aggravation of that “complex panorama” in 2025, due – he says – to the “policies intensified against Cuba of the United States government.”
Priorities before the crisis
Faced with the obvious crisis of the sector, which in turn translates into an important delay in the government program for the construction of housing and other works of an economic and social nature, Minister René Mesa Villafaña defined a group of priorities.
Among these, as listed Granmathere are “the search for national and external financing formulas, the application of chains with a view to reinvestment and to improve the living conditions of workers and their relatives, with superior remuneration.”
The head of the Ministry of Construction (MICONS) said that “the perspectives of 2025 require greater support and advice to local development, the expansion of foreign trade, ceramic combined, import substitution and internal control, as well as the demand and introduction of artificial intelligence ”.
However, beyond these considerations, the journalistic office does not provide details on how the priorities and perspectives managed by the minister would be implemented.
The note is also due to the rest of the issues addressed, which he barely lists without explanations about the one raised about them or the presumably informed statistics.
These issues addressed were, according to Granma“Fundamental physical productions, mining development (quarry front), energy carriers, the sale of materials, export revenues, economic indicators, investments, business projects and links with universities and research centers ”
The number of housing built by the Cuban government collapses in the last five years
Impact on the Housing Program
Although the official review does not mention the program implemented by the Cuban Government for the construction of houses on the island, it is evident that the general breach in the production of materials significantly impacts on it, unlike what happens with the sustained construction of hotels and other facilities for tourism.
Already last year It had transpired that the number of homes built in the last five years contracted in more than 60 %, according to the figures collected in the Stat YearbookYo2023 Sticus that makes the National Information Office and StatiStica (ONEI).
And far from improving, the panorama worsened in 2024, a year to which the effects derived from the aggravation of economic and energy crises on the island added the damage caused by several natural eventslike Hurricanes Oscar and Rafael and the earthquakes that shook the Cuban East.
Until the end of August As soon as 39 % of the construction plan of new houses planned for the year, a figure that the authorities raised – as a prognosis – to 55 % for its closure, for the closure of the same, to closure, as confirmed In December Delilah Díaz Fernández, general director of the Housing.
In her speech before the Commission of Industry, Construction and Energy of the National Assembly, the official confirmed that the levels of production of construction materials were “insufficient” and the “low” execution rhythms, while Minister Villafañas reiterated ” the need for local production of materials, based on the use of components such as clay ”.
The headline then said that his ministry carried out a joint program with those of energy and mines and industries for “the search for alternatives that allow the maintenance of multifamily buildings” and “referred the willingness to rescue the social and state microbrigades”, A movement created by Fidel Castro in the 80s.
