Talking about programs of the year completed in the month of June may seem counterproductive, especially in something as sensitive for the population as housing construction, if one takes into account that only in the main city 14.8 percent of the fund housing is evaluated as fair and 6.7 percent as poor condition, according to a report from the Municipal Housing Directorate.
However, Ismel Gómez Colina, general director of the Construction Materials Production Company in Ciego de Ávila (PROMAC), is responsible for clarifying that this entity only contributes to the subsidy program —230 in plan for 2024— and supports other constructions by own effort, hence the expansion of productive capacities allows us to exceed what was planned in several production lines.
The manager specified that the biggest problems occur in the sinks and the concrete carpentry due to the lack of cement, although it is expected that the entry of this material in the coming months will allow all orders to be fulfilled before the end of the year.
He stressed that, in addition to floor elements such as tiles and mosaics, which are their leading products, they have incorporated other items made from clay, such as clay bricks and tiles, to waterproof the roofs of multi-family buildings, elements that have already fulfilled the plan for the year.
The director pointed out that all 10 municipalities have production centres that contribute to the programme. In the case of clay elements, which have not been manufactured for some time, work is being done in the municipality of Majagua on chained production with a non-state form of management, the Mipyme El Cielo, and in Ciro Redondo with a centre of the PROMAC itself.
In this town, an igloo-type clay oven was installed, the first of its kind in the country, with a burning capacity of 6,000 bricks and optimal efficiency in the consumption of firewood that it uses as a heat source, with savings of around 35 percent compared to traditional ovens.
Gómez Colina highlighted among the entity’s strategies for the remainder of the year, the construction of another kiln in the municipality of Ciego de Ávila and the use of endogenous materials, for which, in addition to the current clay extraction points, has identified a deposit near El Piñacito, in the main municipality, which will begin to be exploited soon.
The ash from the Bioelectric plant adjacent to the Ciro Redondo power plant was also studied and analyzed in laboratories, an element that several economic actors are already using as a cement extender with good results, since it increases resistance, he explained.
The use of ash is currently the subject of analysis in a doctoral thesis on the production of construction materials at the national level, as it may represent savings in cement.
The construction of housing in general responds to a State program that involves various companies and forms of non-state management, among which PROMAC is only responsible for insuring those that are built through subsidies and, to a lesser extent, those that are built by own effort. However, the increase in productive capacities and the creation of alternative elements allows it to support other programs to alleviate the complex construction situation of the territory’s housing stock.
