Water Projects Pour Forth from Programa AGUA T wenty-two desalination plants are slated for construction in southern and eastern Spain under a revised Programa AGUA, the government's national water plan. AGUA is a Spanish acronym that in English stands for Intervention for the Management and Utilization of Water. The plants cannot be built quickly enough, as a drought in Spain further strains the water supply, particularly in areas along the Mediterranean coast, where commercial development is significant. Spain already is home to hundreds of desalination facilities, but most are small and cannot meet present and future demand.    Construction of three plants in Alicante, Bajo Almanzora and Aguilas will soon begin, with more to follow in Almeria, Girona, Murcia, Barcelona and Malaga (locations highlighted in map above).    The water plan is being managed by AcuaMed, an entity of the Spanish government. U.S. companies can bid on construction projects, as there is no barrier to entry. The trick is developing a competitive bid in local government tenders, according to the U.S. Commercial Service, a division of the Dept. of Commerce. For more information on the U.S. Commercial Service in Spain, visit www.buyusa.gov/spain/en.

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ortugal's loss is Spain's gain, particularly the Zaragoza area in the Aragon region.
   General Motors plans to close its plant in Azambuja, Portugal, and transfer production of its Combo van to GM's Opel plant in Figueruelas, Zaragoza, in the northeast part of Spain. The Combo is a derivative of Opel's Corsa vehicle, and the two share many components. Logistically, transporting parts to Portugal was driving up the cost of producing the vans there, so production of the two models will be consolidated in Spain. GM has determined, for example, that assembly in Portugal costs 500 euros (US$644) per vehicle more than it would cost to produce them in Spain. Bringing the Combo assembly to Figueruelas will add about 800 jobs to the facility.
   Despite so much automobile production shifting to eastern Europe, GM's Figueruelas plant beat the company's Gliwice, Poland, plant for the contract to produce the Meriva SUV. Similarly, Schindler, a leading manufacturer of elevators, escalators and moving sidewalks, is expanding its Zaragoza presence with a new plant in the Cartuja Empresarium industrial park – also in Zaragoza. The new, $25.6-million facility replaces existing operations elsewhere in Zaragoza. This investment defies current trends to invest in such facilities in lower-cost locations, such as eastern Europe and Asia, but Schindler's staff of more than 600 in Zaragoza was deemed too valuable to relaunch operations elsewhere.
   The Zaragoza area's work-force and location merits also made a difference to Gazeley Ltd., Wal-Mart's European affiliate, which announced in May that it would invest nearly $386 million in warehouses and logistics projects in the Zaragoza area. Gazeley has completed a 226,000-sq.-ft. (21,000-sq.-m.) warehouse in the Plaza de Zaragoza industrial park, and it plans to develop a further 430,500 sq. ft. (40,000 sq. m.) of space in 2006.
   Gazeley's development director, Adriano Figueiredo, explains

Trade Commission of Spain CIDEM Catalonia Investment Promotion Agency Promo Madrid

the company's bet on Zaragoza this way: "When we started looking for possible locations in Spain, Aragon was not in our sights. However, as soon as we started to research the market, we realized it was the ideal location. Over 70 percent of Spain's population lives within 300 kilometers [186 miles] of Zaragoza. This means rapid access to a market and a 28-million-strong work force. Gazeley always follows its customers where we are needed," he adds, "but Spain is a big opportunity as it is one of the most dynamic markets in Europe with a growth rate 50 percent higher than the European average." Figueiredo also credits Aragon's regional government for its "investment in first-rate transport networks and infrastructure."