There’s a major new international investment in the pipeline for Brazil. Yesterday (the 23rd) the giant US vehicle manufacturer General Motors confirmed a new plant to be sited in Santa Catarina. It’ll be in Joinville.
The Company’s investment amounts to the equivalent of over $R 700 million altogether ( US 417 million dollars to be exact) and the purpose of the new factory is to make gearboxes. These will be for both the domestic Brazilian market of course but also for an important level of export to Europe. In fact, the projected production of around 150.000 units per year will be aimed equally ('fifty-fifty') at both markets.
Marcos Munhoz, the Vice-President of General Motors Brazil summarised the new project as follows ' By investing in this new plant for gearboxes GM reaffirms the importance of Brazil as an international automotive manufacturing centre.' Many commentators agree with him. So does the workforce in the area. The new plant will of course mean a significant boost for employment and the expected creation of 350 new jobs will be, the company says, only the beginning.
If everything goes according to schedule, the new facility will be operating by 2014. Even if that target proves just a bit optimistic, it’s certainly true that whenever it comes, the economic benefits to the 350 and their families will be important. This is also true for the equal number of people (or more) who’d benefit from this in a secondary spin-off way, plus of course the various levels of government who’ll find their ‘tax income’ increased !
All this extra money at different levels will have important impacts on social and community programmes in the area. In particular these will include Social Housing/Ownership schemes ( Social Housing Brazil ) such as the immensely popular Minha Casa Minha Vida which many more people will be able to afford.
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