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CEMEX and Urbi promote economic housing

Wednesday, 30 July 2008


For nine consecutive years, CEMEX and Urbi have reaffirmed their productive partnership and agreed to combine their leadership and experience to promote economic housing in Mexico, generating programs of joint participation in order to design investment schemes in infrastructure, as well as to promote initiatives that contribute to the improvement of Mexico's Sustainable Development Model recently announced by Urbi.

In an event held at Valle Las Palmas, the first sustainable community that responds to the long-term growth forecasts of the city of Tijuana by the year 2030, members of executive management of both companies met; including Francisco Garza, Chairman of the North American Region and International Commerce of CEMEX, and Cuauhtemoc Perez, Chairman and CEO of Urbi, who shared the same views on the strategic vision of renewing their productive partnership.

In that regard, Francisco Garza said, "We are proud to be Urbi's partners, of being able to talk about it in other parts of the world and especially in Mexico since Urbi has become an icon of doing things differently, of seeking, and working under innovative processes promoting cost efficiency; today we can see it clearly reflected in a concise and detailed work agenda."

He also added, "We share the search for innovation with Urbi, in order to find successful formulas where the participation and experience of both companies generate benefits, especially for the final client. By renewing our commitment of promoting the development of economic housing and its mass production, in addition to being a wise business choice, it represents a strong support to Mexico's economy and the low-income population."

On the other hand, Cuauhtemoc Perez mentioned, "We are excited that, as always, CEMEX joins in with its strength and leadership with initiatives that provide complete solutions to our clients, such as the economic housing projects in Valle Las Palmas, where we aim at channeling the subsidies and attracting public and private investment, fostering social and economic development as a means to drive environmental balance through efficiency, which is an inherent benefit of long-term planning."

Through almost one decade, both companies have developed products in conjunction that promote research, development of new products and solutions that benefit Mexico's housing industrialisation.

The innovation and efficiency in the processes of use of materials have allowed Urbi to improve its products and give a wider access of its homes to segments with an income level under 4 minimum wages, epitomised by Valle Las Palmas, where both companies utilised an innovative process for the construction of its main road, which will become a high-traffic highway with a design that integrates a public transportation route.

Under the reaffirmation of this alliance, managers from CEMEX and Urbi supervised the progress of one of Valle Las Palmas' most important equipment jobs: the main boulevard that will be built with pavement made of hydraulic concrete, which, due to its technical features and design, diminishes the heat accumulation in the area; additionally, its light colour allows the optimisation of the energy for street lighting by better reflecting light. On the other hand, it requires minimal maintenance, which avoids traffic jams, diminishes the consumption of combustible and the emission of polluting gases.

In addition, it is worth highlighting that this construction will reuse materials extracted from the site to manufacture concrete for other constructions. This initiative becomes part of the actions fostering the sustainable development model, which also allows the environmental benefit through efficiency in the construction processes.

Besides, the managers already mentioned, the following people were also present at this event: from CEMEX, Jaime Elizondo, Chairman of CEMEX Mexico; Hector Velazquez, Vice-president of CEMEX Concrete; Juan Castro, Vice President of Commercial CEMEX. From Urbi, signing this partnership were Netzahualcoyotl Perez, Executive Director of Urbi; Javier Moreno, Director of Strategic Promotion of Urbi, and Luis Rotter, Managing Director of Corporate Construction of Urbi, as well as other executives from both companies.

CEMEX is an ever-growing global company offering solutions for the construction industry that delivers high quality products and reliable services to customers and communities in more than 50 countries around the world. CEMEX keeps benefiting those it serves through a constant search of innovative solutions for the industry, with improvements in efficiency and by fostering a sustainable future.

Urbi Desarrollos Urbanos is the leading housing developer in Mexico, and the leader in one of the highest growth regions, the northern part of the country. In addition, it has an ever-growing presence in the primary metropolitan areas of the country. In more than 26 years of operations it has developed more than 264,000 homes, always using advanced business processes with an outstanding financial performance, which makes it the most profitable company in the sector. Urbi boasts a unique and replicable business model supported by UrbiNet, its state-of-the-art IT platform.

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