Andres Castellanopresident of the Developers Association and of the Cologne Tourist Associationspoke with Scope on the measures necessary to promote the development of the department.
In a talk in which he did not hide his enthusiasm for the various projects that are advancing in Colognereflected on how the industrial and demographic growth of the department can be reconciled without losing its mark as a site on a human scale.
What is the current outlook for real estate activity in Cologne and what are the prospects for the summer season?
– Colonia is in a window of opportunity. I have been saying this for some time, I am not going to say anything new when I say that it has a strategic geographic location. Many times those of us who have some decision-making sphere ask ourselves, why don’t they bell the cat? I think we are in a moment that can be a turning point. Colonia has an attribute of proximity to the city of Buenos Aires and with that of Montevideo which makes it unique and has a river in the middle which also makes it unique.
Projects are about to happen and are happening simultaneously that are accelerators of processes, especially +Colonia, which aims to be the city of the future and combines the new with the old, with that world heritage siteThe key is whether it will be able to bring companies from the knowledge industry to settle, because the matrix of transformations of employment It is not only a sale of functional units but also of the knowledge industry.
Added to this is the Free Trade Zone of the Platawhich has already been approved, so the bidding process for the project is already underway. It is a free zone exclusively for services, with 11,000 m² and 1,000 new jobs for the department of Colonia. It is a driving force for dynamism.
And what about the tourism sector?
– The Bullring was added as a tourist attraction. The event of Placido Domingoat the end of 2023, was a clear example that we can have a high-target international level event. It positioned us in such a way that during July 17,800 people visited it, compared to 9,000 a year ago.
From the Tourist Association we are working on a development project of the congress tourismwhere the Bullring becomes a driving force, along with the Sheraton hotel and 14 other companies with smaller halls and satellite hotels. It is a segment to exploit that generates much more money than conventional tourism.
How can you reconcile the appeal of Colonia, which has a slower pace of life, with developing the department in this way?
– They are not opposed. The key is to develop responsibly. There is no Magna Carta for this, there will always be different points of view, but I am convinced that it is possible to develop responsibly, that growth can come from the hand of a sustainable growthin accordance with the community that needs to grow in jobs and that local companies can also generate their growth.
To the public sector, if I have to make a claim, it is that we need to streamline management processes. Yes or no, but streamline. An investment cannot wait five years to see if the project is viable or not. We need responsible, but agile, executive processes. At some point, there was talk of Creation of an investment officeIf well managed, it is a good opportunity.
The department has it all: it is the main exporter of Uruguayfrom a tourist point of view we are positioning ourselves as a region wine tourism with 15 wineries and with the cheese routedeveloping event tourism and we have a destination on a human scale. The next local government has a latent window of opportunity to exploit, which was built with this government.
You often talk about the 55 minutes that separate Colonia from Buenos Aires and the department suffered the consequences of the economic crisis in Argentina. Have you seen any changes in the months of Javier Milei’s government?
– From the tourist point of view it is clear that the trade balance is more equal. And the Argentine who can, because here we have to be clear, there is a class that cannot even Argentina nor outside, but those who can choose on equal terms. So the high-income, middle- and upper-middle-class, demanding public is returning, and we are interested in capitalizing on it. From the investment point of view, the future is not yet clearly visible. I think that is not the case in Argentina either. Monitoring is being carried out to determine the direction and whether it will be sustained or how long it can last. There is still some threat. Hopefully it will be resolved quickly and the situation will return to normal.
We are always at the mercy of the Argentine electrocardiogram. Colonia has to work despite that, we do not stop looking at it, but that is why we are going to seek the Brazilian public with wine and cheeses as distinctive products. We have grown almost 80% year-on-year in Brazilian public. And the internal market that has been a support from the pandemic onwards and we are not going to lose that gained ground.
Source: Ambito
