NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Sunday, June 26, 2005

President Hugo Chavez toured a house made of plastic and promised to build thousands more like it for Venezuela’s poor as he marked the creation of a national petrochemical company.

Chavez said the new Corporacion Venezolana de Petroquimica, or Pequiven, will step up production of products from plastics to fertilizer as it begins operating independently from the state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.

“We are going to turn Venezuela into a petrochemical power,” Chavez said, wearing a hardhat as he visited a petrochemical plant in the western state of Zulia on Saturday. “From today on, Pequiven is independent.”

Stepping through a model home with plastic walls built on the factory grounds, he touted it as an economical solution. He said such homes cost about 35 percent less than those built with cinderblocks.
Story found here.