Economy

A Promising Province

Manabí­

Ecuador’s Manabí­ Province, with a population of over 1.3 million, covers an area of around 18,900 square kilometers adjacent to Ecuador’s central Pacific coastline. The province has 22 cantons and […]

Ecuador’s Manabí­ Province, with a population of over 1.3 million, covers an area of around 18,900 square kilometers adjacent to Ecuador’s central Pacific coastline. The province has 22 cantons and Portoviejo is its capital and largest city with around 250,000 residents. Despite its good connectivity to other parts of the country, and buoyant aquiculture (shrimp), fishing (tuna), and tourism industries, Manabí­ has the dubious honor of being Ecuador’s poorest province, with 26.8% of the population receiving the federal government’s so called poor payment that goes to those citizens most in need. The rural-based existence of much of the province’s population is largely the cause of this. In particular, Manabí­’s economy has historically been heavily based on the cultivation of coffee beans, with over half of Ecuador’s beans grown in the hilly inland areas of the province, and coffee exports departing from the province’s Manta Port. Unfortunately, declining world prices for coffee in the 1980s led to crops in the province being left unharvested by famers, which in turn saw a rise in agricultural pests and diseases. Further, much of the coffee is still produced on small, low-yield farms of one to 10 hectares with other crops such as cocoa, bananas, or citrus fruit being grown alongside it, meaning that coffee production in the province is still a near subsistence industry for many farmers.

The Mayor of Portoviejo, Agustí­n Casanovas Cedeño told TBY in his recent interview that, “Agriculture and agribusiness are two of the economic drivers of this canton… However, our agricultural producers need to double production volume to achieve the desired levels of development.” To this end, Portoviejo Canton has passed legislation affording a 50% reduction in taxes for five years to investors committing over $1 million. This move is aimed to kick-start FDI in the region in the hope of addressing some of the current agricultural and standard of living issues that the people of Manabí­ Province face.

At the other end of the investment scale are the SMEs hoping to contribute to the Province’s economic development. Banco Comercial de Manabí­ is a regional bank owned by a group of businesspeople from Manabí­ that is specifically tailoring its services to the needs of companies in the province. In a recent interview with TBY the bank’s Manager, Walter Andrade, explained that the bank is focused on providing credit lines to SMEs that make up around 60% of its corporate clients, and need this support to grow and compete in the region.

TOURISM TO THE RESCUE

Manabí­ Province also has another ace up its sleeve. The region’s coastline extends for 350 kilometers and the province boasts numerous beautiful recreational beaches. These include San Vicente, San Lorenzo, El Murciélago, Los Frailes, and the 17-kilometer Canoa Beach, which is the longest beach in Ecuador. Aside from swimming and sunbathing, Manabí­ has excellent surfing, wind surfing, and kite surfing beaches, such as San Mateo, which is famous for its world-class surfing breaks of up to 300 meters in length. The attractive and tranquil Pacific Coast resort city of Bahí­a De Caráquez sitting on a dramatic peninsula also draws visitors to the region. The city has transformed itself into an eco-tourism destination in recent years, with a predominance of hotels and also numerous holiday homes, many of which are only occupied during the January to April high season. The city has styled itself as an “ecocity,” also by establishing its own paper recycling plant, banning plastic bags, and setting up initiatives for reforestation and organic agriculture. Visitors looking for a different and active holiday experience can walk along the beach to the Punta Gorda Reserve, where they can do voluntary work in the tropical dry forest. They can also visit nearby islands, such as the national heritage site of Isla Corazon, to see local flora and fauna, or visit the area’s organic farms to experience coffee and chocolate production, and other local organic craft industries first hand.

Manabí­ Province is also home to the Machalilla National Park covering 60,000 hectares, of which 20,000 hectares are a marine reserve. The park is immensely important to the ecology of Ecuador, being one of the few areas of coastal tropical dry forest remaining in the country. Los Frailes, rated as one of Ecuador’s most beautiful beaches, is situated within the national park. As well as being an excellent, safe swimming beach with fine white sands, tourists can take a boat out to go diving on the reef, or do some whale watching in season.

Tourism also injects much needed capital into Manabí­’s economy via the cruise ship industry. Manta Port is on the cruise ship route, with vessels calling at the port during the season that runs roughly from October through to April. Some of the largest cruise shipping lines, such as Holland America and Princess Cruises, call at Manta. The ships dock close to the center of Manta, with a free shuttle service lasting 15 minutes taking passengers and their tourist dollars into town. And it is not just temporary visitors aiding the province’s economy. There is a growing trend for foreigners to choose Manabí­ for their retirement, either along the coast in places such as Crucita Beach, or in the provincial capital of Portoviejo. The city is situated 30 kilometers from Ecuador’s Pacific coast, and was founded by the Spanish in 1535. Portoviejo is now the country’s sixth largest city. Its Mayor, Agustí­n Casanovas Cedeño, is acutely aware of the need to work on urban planning and mobility issues within the city to attract and retain more overseas revenue from segments such as international retirees and Ecuadoreans living abroad. As he told TBY, “We must provide more parks, and build more housing, conference and convention centers, and shopping malls, as well as enhance services, hospitality, and entertainment, to attract higher levels of foreign and private investment.”

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

According to Ecuador’s President Correa, Manabí­ Province is “the Province of the Millennium” because of the infrastructure projects currently being developed in the region that he hopes will shape Ecuador’s social and economic future. Of these projects, the Pacific Refinery is billed as the most expensive in the history of Ecuador. The construction of the new refinery in coastal Manabí­ is expected to cost around $13 billion, with a planned completion date of 2017. In addition to central government funding, the China National Petroleum Corporation and Petróleos de Venezuela are investing in the project. On its completion, Manabí­ Province will be home to the largest refinery in the country processing over 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day and employing an estimated 1,300 workers. In the meantime, 20,000 workers will be needed in the refinery’s construction phase, which is a huge injection of economic activity for the province.

Other essential infrastructure projects include improvements to 7,000 kilometers of rural roads so far by the provincial government over the past eight years. However, the scale of work still to be done is significant. Manabí­ Province’s Prefect, Mariano Zambrano Segovia, told TBY in a recent interview that, “…our province requires almost 15,000 kilometers” of road improvements. Health services are another area where Manabí­ Province is in need of further infrastructure and resource input. One recent example of this is the aid organization Supplies Over Seas (SOS) “Mission to Manabí­” initiative carried out in conjunction with Manabí­ Province officials over 2011-2013. Three containers of medical supplies and hospital equipment were shipped to the province from the US, and a team of 20 medical personnel visited remote rural areas of Manabí­ to carry out operations in villages where healthcare facilities are still basic or altogether lacking.

Having said this, the President’s recent focus on funding infrastructure development initiatives in Manabí­ has to be taken as a positive sign that the province will be propelled forward in the long-term.

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