by Ana Vinas, Staff Writer
The proposal by a Taiwanese computer company, Acer, to invest $122 million in a new factory in Ciudad Juarez has posed a serious dilemma for the maquila capital of Mexico, and sparked spirited public debate throughout much of March. The proposed site for the project was in an ecologically protected zone, and the company needed the government's permission to build on it. In the end, Juarez officially denied permission for the project to proceed on land inside the City's Ecological Integration Zone, based on legal restrictions as well as recommendations from the Municipal Planning Institute, nearby residents and the Planning Council.
The project planned by Acer, the leading manufacturer of personal computers in Mexico and third in all of Latin America, meant not only a $122 million investment, but also would have created 1500 to 2500 new jobs. The plant in Juarez would have used "point technology" to build CPUs not just assemble parts. Company executives had been in Juarez working on the project since last year and had hoped to begin construction by April. The overall cost of the first phase of the construction process was estimated at $24.4 million. Four other phases were planned to be completed by the year 2000, and included nearly 10,000 square meters of factory space, general offices, entertainment facilities, a research center, a park and numerous improvements to roads and other infrastructure. According to the company's projections, the plant would generate an overflow of $2.85 billion by the year 2000.
Acer's executives had looked at 40 different sites all over Mexico for 16 months, before settling on the property within the protected zone, and none of them met the company's prerequisites. The reasons the company gave for choosing the Juarez site were: access to a main road to give the project 400 meters of frontal visibility; placement outside an industrial plaza because it needed its "own identity"; strategic location to transportation and the border; size and shape of the property; siting away from other manufacturers since Acer wants to promote themselves as a clean industry; and the price of the property.
However, the Director of the Urban Development office, Oscar Ibañez said there were plenty of other areas they could build on and that in denying permission, Juarez is not trying to close the door on such an important investment. But Company executives have stated it would be impossible to start looking for a different location, even after Governor Barrio and Mayor Galindo offered to supply personnel to assist in finding another location which does not have the same legal restrictions.
The business community had been in favor of more extensive study to see what kind of ecological impact the proposed development would have on Juarez, according to various newspaper reports on the issue. Nora Elena Yu, president of the Canaco (Chamber of Commerce) mentioned the possibility of modifying the limits of the zone under the Urban Plan. Efren Olguin, president of Canacintra, the industrial chamber, stated that room for an exception should not be discarded. Local representatives of the PAN and PRI weighed in against approving the site. The PAN because plenty of jobs have already been created and there is no need to impact residents just to bring another company, and the PRI because foreign companies already have it easy with low wages and the rights and health of future children should not sacrificed.
Private urban planners disagreed, stating that restricting projects like Acer on ecological values is based on myths, rather than serious research. They stated that the current use of the area, the intensity of traffic, and the number of homes planned to be built in and around the area (120) would generate 50 to 60 percent more pollution than the Acer project.
The technical elements taken into consideration in denying the request have not been disclosed by the Office of Urban Development and Ecology, but authorities have stated that they fear the project would have altered the city's infrastructure and planning and the impacts would have been difficult to control.
Sources: Diario de Juarez, El Norte