Cuba Facts: The Infrastructure of Life in Cuba: Food, Water, Housing, and Electricity

Cuba Facts: The Infrastructure of Life in Cuba: Food, Water, Housing, and Electricity

2006-01-06

Issue 18 - December 2005

Cuba Facts is an ongoing series of succinct fact sheets on various topics, including, but not limited to, political structure, health, economy, education, nutrition, labor, business, foreign investment, and demographics, published and updated on a regular basis by the Cuba Transition Project staff.

I. FOOD & AGRICULTURE

• Population in “Severe Nutritional Risk”: 773,000 (UN 2005) [1]

• Imported Foodstuffs: US$1.7 billion (2005) [2]

• Imported Wheat (no domestic production): 1,000,000 MT/year (2005/06 est.) [3]

• Imported Rice: 550,000 MT (2004) – 600,000 MT/year (2005/06 est.) [4]

• Rice Production: 260,000 MT (2004) – 130,000 MT/year (2005 est.) [5]

• Bean Consumption: 240,000 MT/year (2004) [6]

• Bean Production: 131,000 MT/year (2004 est.) [7]

• Cattle: 4.1 million head (2000) - 3.7 million head (2005 est.) [8]

• Milk Production: 219 million liters (2003) – 130 million liters/year (2004 est.) [9]

• Beef Production: 123,000 MT/year (2003) [10]  

II. WATER

• Population Without Potable Water Service: 750,000 (Sept. 2005) [11]

• Population in Havana Without Potable Water Service: 100,000 (2005) [12]

• Dams: 31 of 235 at or below 25 % of capacity (Oct. 2005) [13]

• Reservoirs: 5 of 73 at or below 25 % of capacity (Oct. 2005) [14]

• Distribution: 50 % of potable water lost through leaks in pipelines [15] 

III. HOUSING

• Total Extant Housing Stock: 3.4 million units [16]

• Extant Housing Stock in Poor Condition (2005): 1.768 million units (est.) [17]

• Lost Stock (2001-2005): 580,000 units [18]

• Rehabilitated Stock (2001-2005): 188,000 units [19]

• New Housing Deficit/Demand: 700,000 units (est.) [20]

• New Housing Construction (2001-2005): 32,000 units per year (est.) [21]

IV. ELECTRICITY

• Installed Thermoelectric Capacity: 3057 MW (2005) [22]

• Operational Capacity: 2000 MW (2005 est.) [23]

• End-User Electricity Consumption: 1500 MW (2005 est.) [24]

• Projected Expansion of Installed Capacity: 3700 MW (2007 est.) [25]

• Projected Electricity Demand by 2010: 4200 – 5900 MW [26]

• Projected Electricity Demand by 2015: 4600 – 7200 MW [27]

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Notes

1. Cf. United Nations World Food Program, “Cuba: Emergency Operation 104230” p. 2, http://www.wfp.org/operations/current_operations/project_docs/104230.pdf.

2. Cf. Patricia Grogg, “Food Imports Rise to Compensate for Chronic Production Shortfall,” IPS, Havana, 17 August 2005, http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=29935.

3. Cf. U.N. FAO, “Foodcrops and shortages: Cuba,” June 2005, http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/008/j5649e/j5649e00.htm.

4. United Nations World Food Program, “Cuba: Emergency Operation 104230” p. 2, http://www.wfp.org/operations/current_operations/project_docs/104230.pdf; U.N. FAO, “Foodcrops and shortages: Cuba,” June 2005, http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/008/j5649e/j5649e00.htm.

5. Cf. Patricia Grogg, “El arroz naufraga en la sequía,” IPS, Havana, 15 January 2005, http://www.tierramerica.net/2005/0115/noticias4.shtml. Anonymous official sources expected the 2005 rice harvest to be about half of the 2004 yield due to the cumulative effects of the ongoing drought afflicting the island.

6. Cf. Raisa Pagés, “El necesario complemento para la mesa,” Granma Internacional, 17 January 2005, http://www.granma.cu/espanol/2005/enero/lun17/4mercados.html.

7. Assumes a three-percent increase over 2003 (127,000 MT). Cf. Cuba, Oficina Nacional de Estadísticas, http://www.cubagob.cu/otras_info/one/producciones_agropecuarias.htm.

8. Cf. Patricia Grogg, “Tiempos de vacas flacas,” IPS, Havana, 18 June 2004, http://tierramerica.net/2004/0626/noticias1.shtml. From 4.1 million head in 2000, drought, mismanagement, and hunger have further decimated Cuban cattle herds to about 3.7 million head today. According to an AFP report, over 127,000 head of cattle died as a consequence of drought conditions between 2003 and 2004 alone. Cf. Oscar Espinosa Chepe, “Cuba en los Objectivos y metas del Milenio (IV),” Havana, CubaNet, 5 October 2005, http://cubanet.org/CNews/y05/oct05/05a8.htm; AFP, “Pronostican un primer semestre muy seco en Cuba,” 26 January 2005, Cubaencuentro.com, http://www.encuentro.net/sociedad/noticias/20050126/ba47ef6001b548cbe1e1eb2f3411f561.html.

9. Cf. Patricia Grogg, “Tiempos de vacas flacas,” IPS, Havana, 18 June 2004, http://tierramerica.net/2004/0626/noticias1.shtml. Milk production fell by 89 million liters in 2004. United Nations World Food Program, “Cuba: Emergency Operation 104230” p. 2, http://www.wfp.org/operations/current_operations/project_docs/104230.pdf.

10. Cf. Patricia Grogg, “Tiempos de vacas flacas,” IPS, Havana, 18 June 2004, http://tierramerica.net/2004/0626/noticias1.shtml.

11. Cf. Raisa Pagés, “Los embalses al 60 % de su capacidad,” Granma Internacional, 15 September 2005, http://www.granma.cu/espanol/2005/septiembre/juev15/38agua.html. For the latest official data on the effects of the drought, reservoir levels, etc., see Cuba, Instituto de Recursos Hidráulicos, “Informe Quincenal,” http://www.hidro.cu/quincenal_archivos/frame.htm.

12. Juan Varela Pérez, "Plan de acción de Cuba para enfrentar la sequía,” Granma Internacional, 22 February 2005, http://www.granma.cu/espanol/2005/febrero/mar22/sequia.html; IPS, “Peligro acecha a La Habana,” Havana, May 2005, http://www.cubaalamano.net/sitio/muestra_especial.asp?art=6251.

13. Cf. Cuba, Instituto de Recursos Hidráulicos, “Informe Quincenal,” 3 November 2005 (accessed December 2005), http://www.hidro.cu/quincenal_archivos/frame.htm.

14. Ibid.

15. Cf. IPS, “Peligro acecha a La Habana,” Havana, May 2005, http://www.cubaalamano.net/sitio/muestra_especial.asp?art=6251.

16. Cf. María Julia Mayoral, “Empezará el país mayor programa de vivienda de su historia,” Granma, 2 September 2005, http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2005/09/02/nacional/articulo01.html.

17. Official figures indicate that as much as 52 percent of the island’s housing stock is in need of structural rehabilitation. Cf. EFE, “Cuba planea construir 100.000 viviendas, hacer frente a escasez,” September 2, 2005, http://actualidad.terra.es/nacional/articulo/cuba_planea_construir_viviendas_hacer_470264.htm; Damian Wroclavsky, “Cuba admits acute housing shortage,” Reuters, Havana, 2 July 2005, http://www.canf.org/2005/1in/desde-Cuba/2005-jul-02-cuba-admits.htm.

18. Cuban government figures on partial and total losses due to hurricanes striking the island from 2001 through August 2005. Cf. M. J. Mayoral, “Empezará el país mayor programa de vivienda de su historia,” Granma, 2 September 2005, http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2005/09/02/nacional/articulo01.html. See also AFP, “El huracán Dennis golpeó a Cuba por donde más le duele: la vivienda,” Havana, 11 July 2005, http://canf.org/2005/1es/desde-Cuba/2005-jul-12-el-huracan-dennis.htm.

19. Homes repaired or entirely rebuilt from 2001 through Aug. 2005.

20. The government has announced an ambitious10-year plan to add at least 500,000 new homes to the extant stock by 2015. However, actual demand may already be closer to 700,000 units, if not more. Cf. Patricia Grogg, “Si quiere casa, pórtese bien,” IPS, Havana, 13 September 2005, http://www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/ny/viewstory.asp?idnews=273.

21. Construction of new homes in Cuba has fluctuated in recent years from about 35.8 thousand units in 2001 to no more than 15.4 thousand in 2004. In September, Vice President Carlos Lage declared that the state would provide enough building materials for 50,000 new homes to be built in 2005 and 100,000 in 2006. Cf. http://www.cubagob.cu/otras_info/one/construccion.htm; “Empezará el país mayor programa de vivienda de su historia,” Granma, 2 September 2005, http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2005/09/02/nacional/articulo01.html; AFP, “El huracán Dennis golpeó a Cuba por donde más le duele: la vivienda,” Havana, 11 July 2005, http://canf.org/2005/1es/desde-Cuba/2005-jul-12-el-huracan-dennis.htm.

22. See study by Jorge Piñón, "Cuba’s Energy Crisis: Part II," September 26, 2005, Cuba Focus, http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FOCUS_Web/Issue68.htm.

23. Ibid. At optimum conditions, Cuba’s aging power plants operate at approximately 65-percent of installed capacity.

24. About 25 percent of generated electricity (when available) never actually reaches end-users due of internal consumption by inefficient plants and losses throughout the transmission and distribution infrastructure.

25. The projected expansion assumes an additional 635 MW of installed capacity. Sherritt International Corp. is currently expanding the capacity of its Energas gas-fired plant (joint venture with the Cuban government) by 85 MW. South Korea’s Hyundai has meanwhile won a contract to supply 244 small diesel-powered plants (generating a total of 510 MW) and Germany-based Man B&W Diesel will likewise ship 21 diesel-fueled mini-power plants (equivalent to about 40 MW). The combined additional power capacity provided by Sherritt, Hyundai, and Man B&W should be installed in Cuba by the end of 2007.

26. Cf. Amy Myers Jaffe and Ronald Soligo, “Energy in Cuba,” James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, p. 30, http://www.rice.edu/energy/publications/docs/SoligoJaffe_EnergyCuba.pdf.

27. Ibid. 

The CTP can be contacted at P.O. Box 248174, Coral Gables, Florida 33124-3010, Tel: 305-284-CUBA (2822), Fax: 305-284-4875, and by email at ctp.iccas@miami.edu. The CTP Website is accessible at http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu.

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