In this regard, parliamentarians from all political sectors continue to question whether the Executive "gives itself the luxury of losing investments as happened with Sinovac."
The Government of Chile is facing a wave of criticism, after the decision of the Chinese company BYD to postpone the project of a lithium cathode plant in Antofagasta became known, accusing several difficulties, one of them, permits.
In this regard, parliamentarians from all political sectors continue to question whether the Executive "gives itself the luxury of losing investments as happened with Sinovac."
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economy insists that there is a working group, looking for solutions.
BYD postpones its project in Chile
In 2023, the Chinese company Sinovac announced that it was giving up building a vaccine plant on Chilean soil, accusing that the land did not meet the necessary conditions for the development of the center.
He transferred the investment of US$ 100 million to Colombia.
After weeks of summons, the Government responded that the decision was based on “market size” and not on the company's motives.
Today history repeats itself: the BYD company announced the postponement of the project for a lithium cathode plant in Antofagasta, citing problems with suppliers, but mainly permits.
The Minister of Economy, Nicolás Grau, stated that “the situation that BYD is experiencing is exogenous to the efforts of the Executive”, while the vice president of Corfo, José Miguel Benavente, came out to say that solutions have been offered and “it is the company that has not provided answers.”
In the Government, the Undersecretary of Economy, Javiera Petersen, avoided delving into Benavente's statements and limited herself to highlighting the Government's "dialogue attitude", corroborating that there is a working table evaluating the case.
critics
From the Chamber's Mining Commission, socialist deputy Nelson Venegas regretted that in Chile there is “too excessive bureaucracy” for projects.
His independent peer, Cristián Tapia, called on Minister Grau to keep his “mouth shut.”
If the ruling party has already been critical of the attitude "with crossed arms that the Executive has taken", the opposition assures that the permit project being discussed in Congress, "is not coming to fruition either."
