The Economic Census of Puerto Rico.

Locations of Economic Activity (portfolio)

The Economic Census of Puerto Rico

covers the sectors of mining, utilities, construction, manufacturing; wholesale and retail trades, transportation and warehousing, information; finance and insurance; real estate and rental and leasing; professional, scientific, and technical services; management of companies and enterprises; administrative and support, waste management and remediation services; educational services; health care and social assistance; arts, entertainment, and recreation; accommodation and food services; and other services (except public administration). An overview of each sector is presented below:

Mining sector comprises establishments that extract naturally occurring mineral solids. The term mining is used in the broad sense to include quarrying.
Utilities sector includes establishments supplying electricity, gas, and water.
Construction sector includes operations of establishments primarily engaged in the following broad types of activities:

Building construction - Work done by general contractors, special trade contractors, design-builders, developers, or construction managers.
Heavy construction - Work on no building structures, such as highways, sewer lines, power plants, and refineries by contractors, design-builders, developers or construction managers.
Land subdivision - Subdividing and developing lots for sale by subdivides.

"Construction" includes -

new or original construction;
additions, alterations, rehabilitation, remodeling, or reconstruction; and
Maintenance, repair, or service work.

Manufacturing sector includes establishments primarily engaged in the mechanical, physical, or chemical transformation of materials, substances, or components into new products.
Wholesale trade sector includes establishments engaged in the selling or arranging the purchase or sale of goods, selling goods for resale, selling capital or durable no consumer goods, and selling raw and intermediate materials and supplies used in production.

Most wholesale establishments exhibit the following characteristics:

Wholesalers usually operate from a warehouse or office. These warehouses and offices are characterized by having little or no display merchandise. In addition, neither the design nor the location of the premises is intended to solicit walk-in traffic.

Wholesalers do not usually use advertising directed to the general public. Customers are generally reached initially via telephone, in-person marketing, or by specialized advertising.
Retail trade sector includes establishments engaged in selling merchandise, generally without transformation, and rendering services incidental to the sale of merchandise.
Transportation and warehousing sector includes transit, ground passenger, air, water, pipeline, and scenic and sightseeing transportation, trucking, warehousing, and storage.
Information sector includes establishments engaged in producing and distributing information; providing he means to transmit or distribute information as well as data or communications; and processing the data.
Finance and insurance sector includes banks; credit unions; savings institutions; finance, mortgage, and loan companies; securities and commodities brokers, dealers, and exchanges; holding companies, investment companies, pension fund administrators; and insurance carriers, agents (agencies), and brokers (brokerages).
Real estate and rental and leasing sector includes real estate operators and lessors; listing, sales, and rental agents (agencies); property management; and other real estate services. Auto and truck rental and leasing; computer and other equipment rental and leasing; video tape rental; and other rental and leasing services.
Professional, scientific, and technical services sector includes establishments that specialize in performing professional, scientific, and technical activities that require a high degree of expertise and training. Activities performed are legal advice, accounting, bookkeeping, and payroll services; agricultural engineering, and specialized design services; computer, consulting, research, advertising, photographic, translation services; veterinary services and other professional, scientific, and technical services.
Management of companies and enterprises sector includes establishments that hold the securities of companies for the purpose of owning or controlling interest or influencing management decisions; or establishments (except government establishments) that manage establishments of a company to undertake the decision making role of the company.
Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services sector includes establishments performing routine support activities for operations of other organizations. The activities performed include: office administration, hiring or placement of personnel, clerical services, solicitation, collection, security services, cleaning and waste disposal services.
Educational services sector includes establishments that provide instruction and training in a wide variety of subjects. Examples of these establishments are business, secretarial or court reporting schools, computer training and or computer repair, professional and management development training, technical or vocational schools, fine arts schools, sports and recreation schools, language schools, and other training schools. Excluded from this sector are academic schools, colleges, and universities.
Health care and social assistance sector includes establishments providing health care and social assistance for individuals. Services provided by these establishments are delivered by trained professionals.
Arts, entertainment, and recreation sector includes establishments engaged in producing, promoting, or participating in live performances, events, or exhibits for the public; preserving and exhibiting objects and sites historical and cultural interest; and operating facilities or providing services for recreational purposes.

India
Coal Rehabilitation

Source: and

The Wall Street Journal (Aug. 14, 2000 article)

Project: Coal mining involving two dozen open-pit coal mines.

Ownership: The state-owned Coal India Ltd., which sought to modernize and expand its mining operations. With a World Bank loan, the Indian coal industry was able to buy new equipment and increased excavations, increasing miners' production 21 percent each shift, according to the company.

This is a preview of the whole essay

India
Coal Rehabilitation

Source: and

The Wall Street Journal (Aug. 14, 2000 article)

Project: Coal mining involving two dozen open-pit coal mines.

World Bank involvement: The Bank's IBRD approved a $530 million loan in September 1997. But in July 2000, it acknowledged that the project was a failure on the poverty-alleviation front and canceled the loan, with half the money already disbursed. The company failed to set up job retraining, allow private investment or provide refilled mining land to peasants for agricultural use as quickly as the bank had wanted. Another loan for $60 million to help Coal India improve its environmental practices also was reduced.

Issues:

Forced resettlement of more than 10,000 peasants
Loss of livelihood for many of the displaced
Climate change is exacerbated by increased coal burning

By providing private industry with loan guarantees, low-interest loans and guaranteed access to international markets, the World Bank ensured a coal mining boom in parts of India, including the state of Orissa. Environmental groups concerned about the Bank's support of fossil-fuel project note that by privatizing and deregulating Orissa's power sector and claiming the environment will benefit from expanded coal-fired power, the Bank encouraged chronic pollution and energy-intensive industries in poor countries.

The Bank knew that thousands of poor residents would be forced off their lands, but had required Coal India to provide job retraining, pay residents for their land and provide new land for some peasants to farm. Just 1,400 people had finished job training by August 2000, though, and only 550 found new jobs, the Wall Street Journal reported. "We thought we could make a real difference in the project," the World Bank's India director, Edwin Lim, told the Journal in August 2000. "We've been disappointed with the project on a number of fronts."

Tuesday, 4 February, 2003,

Cyber city in Mauritius

Paradise found: cyber city in Mauritius

Mauritius, the paradise island of golden sand and five-star hotels in the middle of the Indian Ocean, is plunging head first into the high-tech world of information technology.

The volcanic rock, famous for the extinct dodo that once naively welcomed foreign visitors and paid the price, is now using its foreign contacts to build on two decades of development and wants to become a "cyber island".

And it's going the right way about it.

A few kilometres outside the capital, Port Louis, the sugar cane plantations, which were the foundations of the island's success, are being built upon and a "cyber city" is emerging amid the mountains.

"Technologically speaking the cyber city is a state-of-the-art facility," said Devendra Chaudhry, chief executive of Business Parks of Mauritius.

"It will provide a world-class telecommunications network, through both satellite and the fibre-optic cable that links Portugal and Malaysia via South Africa and Mauritius.

"It will provide computing on demand, an internet data centre to back up data and servers for web-hosting, e-commerce and financial transactions."

Creation

The centrepiece of the city is a 12-storey tower, which is being built in just over a year.

Then more than 30 other projects will follow - a hypermarket, conference centre, a cyber village for accommodation, and more high-tech office space.

Devendra Chaudhry is an Indian civil servant brought to Mauritius on sabbatical, to use the experience of high-tech cities in places like Bangalore or Hyderabad to create a new industry on the island.

And the majority of the workers on the site are Indian, brought in to build the infrastructure which the government of Mauritius hopes will catapult the island forward.

The converted coach is now a computer studies class for housewives, children, unemployed people and the disabled.

"We use the caravan to conduct Information Communications Technology (ICT) awareness courses," said Vikash Heeralaul from the National Computer Board.

"We've got nine PCs in a network and we teach basic computing and word processing.

"Up to now we have been to 170 community centres to create ICT awareness among the people of Mauritius.

"Some people don't know how to use a computer, but we teach them the basics and then word processing."