The proposed measures seek to accelerate investment and promote quality formal jobs in the region in various productive sectors, such as forestry, steel, fishing, metalworking, transportation, services and energy.
On Monday, September 16, the Industrial Strengthening Plan for Bío Bío was presented. It contains a set of 32 short- and medium-term measures to address two relevant economic challenges: first, the loss of productive dynamism in the area, which has occurred during the last decades; second, the closure of the Huachipato Steel Company (CSH).
The proposed measures seek to accelerate investment and promote quality formal jobs in the region in various productive sectors, such as forestry, steel, fishing, metalworking, transportation, services and energy.
Specifically, the plan pursues three objectives: on the one hand, to reduce the short-term labor and production impact of the closure of Huachipato.
Secondly, it will seek to reverse, in the short and medium term, the losses of employment, production and industrial infrastructure that the region has suffered in recent years.
Its third objective is to implement, together with the Regional Government, an industrial strengthening plan in alliance with representatives of workers, companies and the academic sector.
The authorities who presented the plan include: the Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism, Nicolás Grau; the Undersecretary of Labor, Giorgio Boccardo; the regional governor, Rodrigo Díaz; the regional presidential delegate, Daniela Dresdner; and the executive vice president of Corfo, José Miguel Benavente.
The content of this plan was the result of work that began in early 2024, where social dialogue between unions, business associations, the academic sector, the Regional Government of Bío Bío and the central government took precedence.
Initially, this initiative was promoted by 37 industrial union organizations from Bio Bio in the forestry, steel, fishing, metalworking, transportation, services and energy sectors, who expressed to the Central Government their willingness to work on an agenda that would allow reversing the decline that the manufacturing industry in the region has experienced for decades.
This plan to strengthen the regional industry became even more urgent and relevant after the decision taken by the Huachipato Steel Company (CSH), on August 7, 2024, to indefinitely paralyze its operations.
