Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
logo
Update At 14:00    USD/EUR 0,92  ↑+0.0003        USD/JPY 151,36  ↑+0.109        USD/KRW 1.344,08  ↓-3.35        EUR/JPY 163,77  ↑+0.084        Crude Oil 86,32  ↑+0.23        Asia Dow 3.851,93  ↑+13.1        TSE 1.821,50  ↓-10        Japan: Nikkei 225 40.261,70  ↓-501.03        S. Korea: KOSPI 2.755,09  ↓-0.02        China: Shanghai Composite 3.025,89  ↑+32.752        Hong Kong: Hang Seng 16.660,76  ↑+267.92        Singapore: Straits Times 3,25  ↑+0.002        DJIA 22,75  ↑+0.17        Nasdaq Composite 16.399,52  ↑+83.823        S&P 500 5.248,49  ↑+44.91        Russell 2000 2.114,35  ↑+44.186        Stoxx Euro 50 5.081,74  ↑+17.56        Stoxx Europe 600 511,75  ↑+0.66        Germany: DAX 18.477,09  ↑+92.74        UK: FTSE 100 7.931,98  ↑+1.02        Spain: IBEX 35 11.111,30  ↑+119.8        France: CAC 40 8.204,81  ↑+20.06        

Daldry's social housing is modernizing Guayaquil

Interview - October 25, 2012
Far from central Ecuador in all senses, Guayaquil is however the country’s economic hub
ANTONIO PATIÑO G., TECHNICAL DIRECTOR OF DALDRY S.A., GUAYAQUIL
ANTONIO PATIÑO G | TECHNICAL DIRECTOR OF DALDRY S.A., GUAYAQUIL

Guayaquil is living an historic moment. Its good administration and the growth of its companies have converted it into Ecuador’s most attractive city, contributing more than US$12,000 million annually to the national GDP. What makes Guayaquil the city to invest in and do business within the country?

In our opinion, Guayaquil is the most open city. All Ecuadorian regional nationalities are here precisely because of the vast number of work opportunities that there are, for the openness of its inhabitants. The port means that business operations are made in a faster way than in the rest of the country.

In Guayaquil, the public sector has generated eight out of each 10 jobs. The average salary is growing and basic shopping needs are 99% covered. Could you value the importance of the private sector in Guayaquil, and the labour opportunities it presents for Spanish talent?

Guayaquil has always been characterized for receiving little from central government, due originally for the distance involved and the communication problems. This meant that central government could not attend the needs of Guayaquil as it should have done. A general reason also is the compelling centralism that exists in Ecuador. For this reason each Guayaquil person is a businessman, even though he sells snacks on the street corner. It’s his own business. That is why the inhabitants of Guayaquil create many job opportunities, a way of supplementing the deficient attention of the government

In less than one generation, Guayaquil has transformed one of the most essential needs of a welfare state, the residential neighbourhoods. What have been the main challenges that had to be overcome?

The huge affluence and internal migration that Guayaquil had and has, promoted human invasions that were squatter settlements set up without any type of infrastructure, backed by unscrupulous land traffickers. This means a big social cost for Guayaquil, which is being resolved thanks to the last five Guayaquil government administrations (two controlled by the late engineer León Febres Cordero, and three under the charge of the lawyer Jaime Nebot) which have been able to treat the problem with the seriousness and professionalism necessary.

Daldry happens to be 100% local. How important is the experience you have achieved locally when it comes to carrying out new projects?

The experience is very important because it allows us to maximize the resources that we have. It also allows us to transfer all that experience in convenient costs for our clients. Although Daldry is a company that was formed in 2003, it also has staff members that basically have been working more or less 30 years in housing construction. So during this time they have experienced a large number of systems, including the one we are currently using, which has opened the way to a really very good efficiency. It has allowed us to build quickly, and in a convenient way for the clients

The Mayor told me that the transformation of Guayaquil could be in both infrastructures as well as in the morale of the people, who feel satisfied. From your expert point of view, how is this benefitting the people and guaranteeing greater growth and prosperity?


As long as the people have adequate means of comfort, cleanliness and order, they are going to continue along this line. Before, my impression of Guayaquil was one of chaos. People had no respect for the city. They used to break things, throw paper on the ground and chuck rubbish in the middle of the street, etc. When they find themselves with a zone that is clean, in principle they don’t want to make it dirty. The fact that the city is now modernized and ordered has also meant that people want to continue on the same path.

What characteristics would you underline as important in the task that the municipality has undertaken to achieve these goals?

The municipality has become an innate leader in these achievements. Without this municipal work, Guayaquil would really not have the opportunities it has now.

And the financing is one of the main hurdles for companies that operate in this sector, given that the risk premium of these countries makes international bank loans much more expensive. How does it finance its products and how does it overcome these obstacles?

International financing for companies is practically non-existent. We finance our projects with local credits, our own capital and basically with the confidence generated by the public, which has known as for many years, and has full trust in us. This trust is the best asset we have.

The Mucho Lote 2 project is precisely a joint venture through which Daldry has cooperation accords with different local companies. Which have been the main benefits derived from this cooperation, with regards to the transmission of knowledge?

It is a programme led by the municipality to which private companies accede once they fulfill certain conditions demanded by the municipality. These conditions are fairly tough and mean that we, the construction companies, have to evolve in systems that are convenient and appropriate to cover the challenges imposed by the municipalities.

Your sector is a generator of natural employment for the local workforce. In fact, the majority of the workforce employed in this company is 100% Ecuadorean. They are being trained by your company. What advantages are there in having a local workforce, and how do you see the role of private companies in the formation of future professionals for the country?

Having a national workforce means a substantial saving in construction costs, and in addition providing employment in a significant way. The people that work in the project are non-expert when we initiate a new system, but with the leadership that we give them and the continuous use of the system, they acquire the expertise to do it with us and with any other person that uses the system.

The Spanish private sector has experience in your industry, and we can cite global leaders such as Ferrovial, HLHS Acciona, or FCC etc. What potential is there to create new alliances between the Spanish private sector and Daldry to continue growing together?

The potential always exists, always and whenever the foreign companies reckon it to be convenient. We are totally open to cooperation.

Speaking of relations between Spain and Ecuador, Spain has strengthened itself in the past decade as the main European investor in Latin America, with investments estimated at more than US$21 billion. In your opinion, what is the importance in relations between Ecuador and Spanish companies for the future of the nation?

The Spanish are much more advanced than we are in technology. Countries like ours need this type of technology and financial strength in big projects such as electricity, petroleum and mining projects etc. I think that for this type of activities, there is a large opening in the country for foreign companies.

As you know, we live in a globalized world, where communication between countries is vital to bring investment to lead to economic growth. How do you evaluate the power of communication in the world in which we live today?

Communication is as vital as water and the air that we breathe. Without communication, we could not reach the level of progress that we now have.

To end the interview, what message would you like to send to the business community regarding Guayaquil and the Spanish society?

Guayaquil is a city open to any kind of migration and foreign investment. Its people are pleasant and it has a spectacular climate during most of the year. Everybody who comes here, whether from our country of from other cities, are always welcome.

What new projects does Daldry have?


Among its projects, Daldry plans to expand outside the city. We have bought 32 hectares in Santo Domingo which is a place with a lot of commercial movement of transition between the coast and the mountains. It is going to be a project of more or less 3,000 houses. Our business is the mass construction of social housing, to give the best offer to the public.

Do you have any idea of making a product that could be a type of council house to rent?

No. This thing of renting like that does not exist. At least we do not have that speciality, it does not interest us for the time being.

  0 COMMENTS