English translation of the article about City Marozan en Honduras 07 june 2021
Ciudad Morazán, which in Russian sounds like Morazánográd, is the second ZEDE formed in Honduras since the Zones of Economic Development and Employment (ZEDE) law was passed. The concept of the City Morazan is little from libertarianism and much from business. The business idea is extremely simple, if the goal of the new law is to provide employment and economic development, then that is what needs to be focused on. Businesses should get convenient infrastructure, understandable laws, minimal taxation and, one of the main economic advantages of Honduras, cheap labor. And workers must be provided with what they lack in normal life, without increasing their social costs, to keep up with the low wage levels of these places. Therefore, the housing should be simple, cheap and in terms of comfort levels ahead of what people are used to, and they are extremely undemanding here.
They are used to the fact that the house may not have water, the toilet can be outside the house, used to roofs of metal sheet under which the daytime is unbearably hot, but at night it is cold. And which rattles like a drum during the rainy season. The walls may be made of boards nailed to the overlap or the same profiled sheeting, and tile on the floor is considered a luxury element. But the most important thing people want in Honduras is security. And that's easy to understand if you consider that the district's capital city, San Pedro Sula, ranks 15th in the world in terms of murders per capita among cities not in a state of war.
So the first thing the ZEDE organizers started with was the construction of a three-meter concrete fence, more than two kilometers long, around the entire site of the first phase.
After closing the perimeter, the first industrial warehouse building was built, consisting of four sections, two of which are already rented and operating, while finishing work is being completed in the other two.
The building is connected to the power grid and a temporary water tower. In the future another water tower will be built and the organizers plan to provide the City Morazan with drinking water directly from the tap. Usually here drinking water is bought separately.
The construction of the first stage of the block-long single-family houses was started for the future residents. The design of the houses is extremely primitive and well-proven in India, although unusual for Honduras.
The base of the house is a box of foam blocks reinforced with a metal mesh reinforced with metal ties.
The outside and inside of the walls are plastered with a thick layer of cement mortar.
Using this combination of materials should provide excellent thermal and acoustic insulation, and the low weight will provide high earthquake resistance. This area is not considered to be particularly earthquake prone, compared to Guatemala for example, but there are occasional earthquakes up to 7, which have to be taken into account. It is possible that some important elements have been missed in the design and therefore it is planned to wait for the comments of the new tenants after finishing the first 16 houses and to change the design of the next 16 houses to be located next to the first houses on the adjacent basement slab.
The advantages and disadvantages of these houses flow smoothly into each other and it will be possible to estimate how well they fit the development of the City Morazan only with time. Of course a foam wall with a little reinforcement is easy to break, but at the same time you should consider that it is easy to repair it to a condition close to the original. Low fire resistance and toxicity of combustion products cannot but cause concern, especially in the absence of ventilation systems and windows overlooking the street in most rooms.
But perhaps also the probability of fires with the accepted way of life here is also extremely low. But the high sound insulation, a toilet and a shower in each house can not but attract the attention of potential tenants. Especially when you consider that the rent will be fully consistent with the accepted in the area, with incommensurably higher expected comfort in homes the City Morazan.
The economic activity in the City attracted the first businessmen and a private canteen was built near the construction site and the industrial warehousing building where workers could buy refreshment.
The development of the new ZEDE in Honduras is going according to the plan of its initiators and while the right side of the entrance road is waiting for the concrete to harden and therefore blocked to the passage we all believe that these plans will come true, the road will be open and Morazanograd will provide its residents employment and help Honduras develop economically.