It has become the
In the 70s, a strong movement against the decadence of the small towns appeared in Lea Ibarra; it was led mainly by the youth who were forced to and go to cities outside the region to look for a job.
The valley´s complete dependence on agriculture brought disastrous consequences. It had no industrial lands, and no traditions for
either. Unemployment was terribly high, and there were no prospects for the future. For this reason young people tended to leave their towns, and the valley was heading for decadence. Alternatives had to be found, the valley´s identity had to be maintained and strengthened.With the arrival of democratic councils, this movement and its proposals became more powerful, to the point that they became the axis for
. The creation of an industrial area that would meet the region´s needs was one of the movement´s proposals.The Regional Council of Bizkaia gathered 80 million pesetas of shared capital as partner, and the project was launched with great hopes. A few years later, the Basque Government also committed itself to
: through the organisation SPRILUR, it appropriated the majority of the shared capital of the entity and brought strength to accomplish the next phases. By then, the first phase of the project was finished, and a few new companies were already established in the Industrial Area.With the constitution of
, a new and significant step was taken towards the development of the valley. As a result of the work carried out by this organisation, in December 1984 the public institution Okamikako Industrialdea S.A. (The Industrial Area of Okamika PLC) was created with the approval of the Regional Council of Bizkaia. Its aim would be to promote and to boost the economic development of the valley.Nowadays, after achieving a shared capital of almost 750 million pesetas, there have been great investments to improve the infrastructures of the site. New phases have been carried out, a complex sewage treatment system has been installed and
adding up to 22.000 m2 have been built.The 95 % of that space built in the Industrial Area is completely taken today. There are 30 companies working there, 24 of them recently formed, and they have created over
. There are plans to build a new pavilion for the year 2001, and at present an expansion project to meet the needs of the coming years is being designed.
In order to boost
, the applicants are expected to carry out promotion work, and above all to create the infrastructure required for their project, always bearing in mind the valley´s characteristics.The
offered by the Industrial Area of Okamika can be summarised as follows: