Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered the creation of a state-run cement company, a year after seizing control of 90% of the local industry in expropriations.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered the creation of a state-run cement company on Wednesday, a year after seizing control of 90% of the local industry in a wave of expropriations. The decree said the Corporacion Socialista de Cemento was being established with ten million bolivars ($4.65 million) capital "for the production, sale and marketing of cement and its derivatives." In August 2008, the Venezuelan government ordered the expropriation of Mexican-owned Cemex's local subsidiary, and agreed to pay $267 million for an 89% stake in the Venezuelan subsidiary of the French group Lafarge. It also agreed to pay $552 million for an 85-% share of Swiss-owned Holcim's Venezuelan subsidiary. However, the companies have not been paid yet, and Cemex and Holcim have filed complaints with a World Bank body that arbitrates disputes between countries and private companies. Chavez has said the shortage of housing in Venezuela justified the nationalizations. On average, about 40,000 to 50,000 houses have been built per year since 2004, while the demand is for double that amount, according to industry sources. Chavez, an ally of the communist regime in Cuba, has since 2007 nationalized a whole host of companies in other strategic sectors such as telecommunications, oil and electricity.

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