14 A
WEDNESDAY. AUGUST . 1963
MbUtOHU MAIL 1 mount., MbUrOHU, OntuOB
f3
Industrial Complex To Be Built Soon in Venezuelan Wilderness
By JAMES H. WHELAN
Uaiiid Pratt International
Santo Tome de Guayana,
Venezuela-WPD-You have just
entered a world of dreams.
There is no Santo Tome de
Guayana, Venezuela. There is
only a dream by that name.
It u a dream born on the
windswept badlands of south
eastern Venezuela beside the
swift-rushing Rio Caroni and
beclouded by throat-parching
dust of a hill the Indians call
"La Parida."
Here, if the dream comes
true, will rise one of the
world's great industrial com
plexes and with it will grow
a flourishing, modern city
pre-planned down to the last
bus stop.
This is an idle dream only
to those who would have
thought that Brasilia, the new
capital of Brazil hewn from
Amazon jungle, and the power-producing
dam network of
the Tennessee Valley Author
ity (TV A) WCTe idle dreams
The reformation of this
dusty, remote, Wild West-type
desert wasteland into a huge
steel, aluminum, power and
wood products complex is
tantamount to a rebirth of
Venezuela.
Here, at the junction of
the muddy Orinoco River and
the cascading Caroni, is one
of the world's Tichest and vir
tually untapped basins of nat
ural resources. The plan to
develop them in the next 15
years is backed by a bank
roll of $500 million to start.
Experts, including Vene
zuelans and some of the finest
minds from Harvard and Mas
sachusetts Institute of Tech
nology (MIT), have ponderous
ly labored over every aspect
of this mighty development
project for more than two
years. Now the wheels that
will turn the dream into
reality are beginning to turn.
Remote Guayana state, en
compassing one-fourth of the
land area of Venezuela is now
largely underdeveloped and
its population numbers only
213,000 persons. But the eco
nomic potential is seemingly
boundless.
For Development
Ten per cent of Venezuela's
total national investment for
the next -five years has been
earmarked for the develop
ment of Guayana, which pos-
Mercedes Douglas
Marries Attorney
Beverly Hills, Calif.-fUPJ)-
The former wife of Supreme
Court Justice William O.
Douglas and Washington, D.C.,
attorney Robert Eichholz were
honeymooning today en route
to the bride's Washington
' state ranch.
. The former Mercedes Hes
ter Douglas and Eichholz
were married here Tuesday -the
day after Douglas, 64.
maTried the former Joan Carol
Martin, 23, at Buffalo, N.Y.
Douglas and Mrs. Eichholz,
48, were divorced one week
ago. The weddings this week
were the third for each.
sesses a fantastic assortment
of natural resources.
-In this area, there are
known deposits totaling 1,
300,000 (M) tons of proven
deposits of high-grade iron
ore. Mining operations which
began in 1954 have already
converted Venezuela into one
of the free world's leading
suppliers of iron ore.
-Just one year ago, Presi
dent R o m u I o Betancourt
tapped an electric open hearth
furnace at a $362 million government-owned
mill on the
shores of the Caroni, incor
porating Venezuela into the
family of steel-producing na
tions. The mill now has a ca
pacity of 750,000 tons a year
and is fully-integrated: mean
ing it can handle all the proc
esses starting with iron ore
and ending with finished steel
products.
-The Caroni has the high
est electric power potential
of almost any river in the
world: an estimated 10 mil
lion kilowatts, due to a drop
of nearly seven hundred feet
(240 meters) as it rushes to
join the Orinoco. One $45
million dam has already been
finished, providing 350,000
kilowatts. A contract was
signed earlier this year far
the financing of the first
phase of the $133 million
Great Guri dam, which when
completely finished will be
338 feet high and have a ca
pacity of 6 million kilowatts.
Two more hydroelectric proj
ects are on the drawing
boards.
Brings Gat
-Pipelines already bring
gas and oil to the area from
the easily-accessible oil fields
of eastern Venezuela, which
boast proven reserves of 2.2
billion barrels of oil.
The Orinoco has been
dredged to a depth of 33 feet
the entire 160 miles from
Santo Tome de Guayana to
the Atlantic.
Besides iron ore, the area
boasts other minerals, includ
ing manganese, nickel,
chrome, industrial diamonds,
gold and coal (30 million tons
of known reserves).
-The area to the south
abounds in great rain forests
of the Amazon territory,
promising a flourishing lum
ber Industry. The fishing in
dustry is only beginning to
develop.
-The area,' at the conflu
ence ot two great rivers.
flanked In the distance by
rolling hills, provides a dra
matic location for the deveh
opmcnt of a new cily. Though
only six degrees north of
the equator, the site of the
new city is fanned by almost
constant breezes which are
even expected to blow away
the smoke from industrial
chimneys.
-Most of the land in the
area belongs to the govern
ment corporation developing
this area, meaning the devel
opment can be preplanned
and controlled. The combina
tion of abundant natural re
sources, cheap and plentiful
hydroelectric power, good
transportation to markets, nat
ural beauty and the fact that
It is a virgin territory whose
growth can be guided - make
the Guayana region unique
among the world's remaining
lands of opportunity.
Three years ago, the gov
ernment corporation charged
with developing this area
signed a contract with the
Joint Center for Urban
Studies of the MIT and Har
vard. Now, after two years of
intensive studies involving ro
tating staffs of experts in al
most every field imaginable,
the Center has released care
fully guarded predictions for
the area.
Barring war or a commu
nist takeover in Venezuela,
they see the Guayana region
as the answer to the problems
of a country which grew rich
on oil. Venezuela is the free
world's No. 1 oil supplier but
the petroleum - centered pros
perity was limited almost en
tirely to the northern coastal
areas. Apart from that, while
Venezuela has oil reserves to
last at least another half cen
tury (16.8 billion barrels), the
growth of the petroleum in
dustry cannot keep pace with
the population explosion -around
3.5 per cent per year,
one of the highest rates in the
world.
Already, because of the new
steel mill, the Guayana region
has witnessed its own popula
tion explosion: the site of the
new city had a population of
4,000 in 1940. By 1950, that
had doubled. By 1960, it had
soared to 55,000.
At this point, the planners
have stepped In and are try
ing to plan for an orderly fu
ture, a clean and modern city
feeding on a coordinated in
dustrial complex nearby and
drawing on the resources of
the region. By 1966, they ex
pect the city to have a popu
lation of 115,000; by 1975,
420,000; by the 1980's, 680,000
and by 2,000, more than one
million.
The government is count
ing on private capital to do
most of the job of developing
the industry of the area - and
is welcoming private invest
ment - but the government's
Guayana Development Corp
oration (CVG), with $500 mil-
linn in capital available - will
be the guiding hand.
Invaiimant Naaded
In the first phase of the
city's develop m e n t (1963
1966), an Investment of $415
million will be needed. The
second stage, 1967-1975, Will
require $l,38R,000,00O.
. By 1975, the Guayana re
gion is expected to be pro
ducing one fifth of Venezu
ela's gross national product,
and one fifth of all its exports
- ambitious goals considering
the giant oil industry will
still be operating at peak
levels elsewhere in Venezuela.
More than 100 factories -
ranging from steel and alu
minum plants to pulp mills -
are expected to provide jobs
for 85,000 persons by 1975.
Another 60,000 are expected
to be working in other fields
mining, trade, transportation
and services.
Keep in mind that all ot
this will be taking place in an
Heard the word?
We're lliird1,
in sales. Third! 1
Oil, you said that laat year.
.
. I
IFG5-69
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MaU LLMnwIMkMTHal twnnHav M. m tilllUlt I1IU XCIIIJCSli
l YOU AUTHOINZtl P0NTIAC DEALER rot A WIDt CHOICE OF WIOE.tMCKS AND GOOD USID CARS. TOO.
DEAN & TAYLOR PONTIAC CO., Inc.
2177 SOUTH PACIFIC HIGHWAY MEDFORD, OREGON
area all but barren a few
years ago and which still -except
for the steel mill and
big open pit iron ore oper
ations 90 miles away - re
sembles a Wild West fron
tier town.
The development of the city
itself has been the heart of
all the planning, planning
aimed at creating a city at
tractive enough to attract top
engineers, professionals,
teachers. To get people to a
wilderness anywhere is hard
enough. To do it in Latin
America, where the big cities,
and especially the capital
cities, exercise an almost mys
tic magnetism, is a formidable
job.
Penetrating Reports
To know the people already
here and their needs as inti
mately as possible, Lisa Red
field Peattie of Chicago, a
University of Chicago anthro
pologist, moved 16 months
ago into a shantytown on the month, the metropolitan area will be finished by the end of
outskirts. Mrs. Peattie remain- i could develop into a massive I next vear
slum. Fully half of the 8,650 Contracts have already
ed there with her four chil
dren even after her husband
was killed in an automobile
accident here last December.
Her penetrating reports, and
those of others, are designed
to keep the human factor
paramount in the welter of
statistics.
Housing is getting number
one priority in the planning.
With 800 persons arriving per
houses already built are
either shacks or sub-standard.
To avoid the spread of this,
authorities have- set up re
ceiving areas for new arrivals.
Easy credit terms are offered
to anyone willing to work,
and as fast as possible they
are being moved into 7,000
new houses already under
construction and all of which
been signed - some with U.S.
firms - for the financing of
the 70,000 houses that will be
needed by 1975.
Those are : the broad out
lines of a dream which is al
ready taking shape. Only time
will tell whether man is equal
io nis vision ot me iuiure oi i Dept. M
Guayana, Venezuela's "El'S . ,. . , .
Dorado - P. 0. Bo 2S89, Portland 3, Ore.
1
CAT'S PURR STUDIED
Bonn IUPD Dr. Paul Ley
hausen of the Max Planck In
stitute for the physiology of
behavior is conducting ex
periments to find out why
cats purr, it was reported today.
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