Zeta Group yesterday inaugurated construction of a free-zone in Cartago, east of San José, that it expects to attract close to $60 million in investment and create thousands of jobs.
This new free-zone, called Techno Park, is an expansion of the Cartago Industrial Park, and sits alongside garment manufacturers such as Hanes and Levi Straus. Techno Park seeks to attract call centers, technical support centers and other computer and communications businesses that focus on service, reflecting the economy's continuing move away from manufacturing investment in favor of service, vending, and assembly businesses, according to Zeta Group vice-president Cesar Zingone.
“The tendency of the country is toward more specialized labor,” Zingone said. “We're responding to that.”
Techno Park has already attracted $4 million in investment. Zeta Group expects the 15-hectare plot to host 25 companies, with a total of 100,000 square meters of building space, and eventually attract $60 million in investment.
The project will generate 5,000 jobs in the short term, Zingone said, and could employ 8,000 to 9,000 workers within five years, depending on the performance of the economy. Zeta Group's free-zones in Cartago, Alajuela, northwest of San José, and Heredia, north of San José, employ a combined 14,000 people.
President Oscar Arias was the keynote speaker at the Techno Park inauguration, and Cabinet members, lawmakers, and business chamber representatives also attended. Workers from the surrounding businesses crowded around the outskirts waving “ Sí TLC ” signs, turning the event into something of a rally for the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).
“You all have jobs,” Arias, who later cut the ribbon for the new park, told the crowd as he made his pitch for the free-trade agreement. “The question is, where are your children going to find jobs?” |
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