Local construction is down 60% with 46,000 out of work; Covid cases continue downward trend; Cuenca Sheraton stays open; New prefect presents her plans

Martes, 6/10/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
Otras cosas –

Titular – Méndez pedirá auditoría (Méndez will request an audit) – Cecilia Méndez assumed the post of prefect ayer, replacing Yaku Pérez who submitted his irrevocable resignation ayer and registered his presidential candidacy hoy with the movimiento Pachakutic. Méndez, a 58 year old sociologist, said she will manage based on territorial equity <urban v.s. rural? or Cuenca v.s. the rest of the province?> and one of her first actions will be an audit of her predecessor. Pérez said that the Contraloría has already audited his term, but he has no problems with more audits. She has shown a tendency to be critical of the ideology of the Pachakutic movement and will collaborate with movements more aligned with her posture such as the Partido Socialista. For administration and her work team, she will consider career employees of Azuay, mainly people with over 20 years of experience and expertise. She will go back to thinking regionally since Azuay has been almost absent in the Consorcio de Gobiernos Autónomos Provinciales del Ecuador (Congope) and use the power provincial governments to pressure the Central Government to comply with its mission to pay attention al Austro (south). Most of the provincial council agreed on the necessity of continuity for projects including agreements signed by Pérez in different areas of provincial government.

Reforma tributaria exige FMI a Ecuador (IMD demands tax reforms from Ecuador) – See yesterday’s CHL article for story.

New Azuay Pefect Cecilia Méndez

Otro ciclista carchense triunfa en Giro da Italia (Another cyclist from Carchi wins in Giro d’Italia) – Jonathan Caicedo was 2nd in the 3d phase of the Giro d’Italia held in Sicily.

Piden apoyo para reactivar construcción (Support to reactivate construction requested) – Because of the pandemic, the construction sector in Cuenca has contracted by 60%. Cristina García, president of the Cámara de Construcción de Cuenca (CCC), said that 46,000 jobs have also been lost. She said part of the reactivation process is an agreement with the City to create a temporary ordinance until the Plan de Uso y Gestión del Suelo (Land Use and Management Plan) is approved. This would allow stalled projects to resume, with a movement of resources of almost $100,000,000. Another action would improve administrative processes to eliminate bureaucratic obstacles and reduce the time spent in municipal paperwork. An Ordenanza de Control de Calidad de la Edificación (Building Quality Control Ordinance) is in the legislative proposals regulate construction in areas such as structure, construction and electrical. <Like codes? Cuenca’s going to get building codes? I don’t think getting building codes is going to decrease paperwork since there will need to be more plan checkers.> The Dirección de Control Urbano has made advances in on-line paperwork up to allowing the user to chat to consult on the progress of their applications .

Clases presenciales en dos instituciones en Cuenca (Face-to-face classes in two institutions in Cuenca) – The national COE approved the protocols for return to face to face classes at the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana and the Colegio Alemán Sthiele de Cuenca, but their reactivation is not yet planned. The rector of the UPS said that classes will continue via Zoom, but administrative personnel will gradually return. The director of the Colegio Alemán also said their classes will be taught virtually. 3 other universities were also approved for gradual reopening, as well as a primary school in Macas where parents will have the choice of sending their kids back to school or not.

Casos de COVID-19 se estancan según las cifras del MSP (COVID-19 cases stagnate according to MSP figures) – For the second consecutive week, coronavirus cases in Cuenca showed a smaller increase than in past months with 355 new infections in 7 days compared with an average of 800 new cases in the same period of septiembre. There have been 7.420 cases registered as of yesterday and 720 patients recovered this week for a total of 4.962 since the start of the pandemic. Hospitals are starting to have fewer cases although the decrease is slow. Patients in hospital went from 137 to 124 with critical patients decreasing from 62 to 57. However, ICU beds continue to be full. Deaths have also decreased to 2 per day down from 4 per day in septiembre. <Maybe Cuencanos are taking good care of themselves in spite of the lack of stringent restrictions.>

Pagina de negocios –

Mega Santa Cecilia comienza expansión (Mega Santa Cecilia begins expansion) – A new Mega Supermercado Santa Cecilia is under construction in Uncovía, in the Parque Industrial sector. It is expected to be finished and open by the end of this year or the beginning of 2021. <Just like the integration of the Tranvía and bus systems. Which do you think will actually meet this time frame?> The family business started in 1980 to transport and distribute productos de primera necesidad (basic necessities). It bought land on Mariscal Lamar for a supermarket with underground parking and later bought a warehouse fronting calle Tomás Ordóñez. There are now 3 generations working in the business.

Four Points by Sheraton no cerrará puertas (FourPoints by Sheraton will not close doors) – After the announcement last week that the Marriott in Quito will close temporarily, Henry Eljuri, president of the board of the Four Points by Sheraton, said that the Sheraton in Cuenca will not close its doors. The parent company of the Sheraton is the Marriott chain. Eljuri said that the Sheraton could weather the pandemic since they increased income by almost 60% during the pandemic. They put the money into reserves which would allow them to last for at least a couple of years. They also had budgeted almost $500,000 for major improvements which were delayed, but now can use that money to survive. However, of the 75 employees they had before the pandemic, only 22 are left.

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne