CARACAS: Venezuela’s proposed Special Economic Zone (ZEE) will be submitted during the last week of April, Venezuelan Vice President of Planning and Knowledge Ricardo Menendez stated.
The plan, which forms part of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s “economic offensive,” will include initiatives to strengthen the country’s telecommunications, electricity and transportation production capacity. In 2015, President Maduro announced the creation of a Special Economic Zone in Paraguana in northwest Venezuela.
In order to further develop the Special Economic Zone of Paraguana, the Venezuelan government seeks to boost the country’s electricity production through the harnessing of wind energy. The Paraguana wind farm is expected to deliver 100 megawatts of capacity to power the neighboring oil refinery. The project began generating energy in December 2012, and since then has saved the Paraguana refinery complex approximately US$36.3 million by substituting diesel-fired generation with renewable energy. President Maduro signed a US$2 billion deal to create a special economic zone for manufacturing and construction materials’ Chinese firms.
