Largest Special Economic Zone to grow bigger
Warehouse & industrialeditor-in-chief
The Council of Ministers has added 269 ha of land from the provinces of Opolskie and Silesia to the Katowice Special Economic Zone, extending its area by over 11 pct to over 2,614 ha. Investment from public funds comes to around PLN 1.9 bln. “We have consistently followed a strategy of using the Katowice Special Economic Zone to pursue the sustainable development of the region,” says Piotr Wojaczek, the president of the board of the Katowice Special Economic Zone. “By including new areas in the zone, we solve specific local problems such as unemployment. We examine each selected location in regard to its social impact and the accessibility of infrastructure and then, working with local authorities, we apply for the right to create a new section of the zone. Examples of our fast developing new locations include Ujazd, Zabrze, Dąbrowa Górnicza and Częstochowa. They have developed their brands and are attracting more investors. I am convinced that we will manage to replicate this in the areas which are currently being added to the zone, even though transforming an investment area into a thriving industrial park does not take place over night with the whole process often requiring substantial financial expenditure. As a zone we always act with firm determination as if the success of a given project depended entirely on us. So far our actions have had positive results and I believe we will continue in the same way,” he adds. The land added to the Katowice Special Economic Zone remain the property of the local authorities, the Treasury (as part of the assets of the Agricultural Property Agency) and of private investors.
All the subzones of Katowice Special Economic Zone have been extended with land added in 16 separate locations. In the Gliwice subzone over 44 ha has been added and over 31 ha has been added in Olesno. In the Jastrzębie-Żory subzone over 25 ha has been added in Jastrzębie-Zdrój, over 14 ha in Godów, over 29 ha in Radziechowy-Wieprz, over 7.5 ha in Racibórz, over 24 ha in Wodzisław Śląski and 0.73 ha in Bielsko-Biała. In the Sosnowiec-Dąbrowa subzone, 16 ha have been added in Zawiercie as well as 16 ha in Woźnik, 10 ha in Ogrodzieniec, and almost 19 ha in Krzepice. In the Tychy subzone 3 ha have been added in Lędziny. Government land has also been added to the zone in Bytom and in Metapol in Węgierska Górka. Additionallyf Rockwell Automation is planning a project on land owned by Echo Investment subsidiary Echo 135. More details regarding the land and projects will be announced on completion of the negotiations. Other zones to be extended include Kostrzyn-Słubice (68-ha), Łódź (88-ha) and Warmia and Mazury (351 ha). Special economic zones in Poland now have an area of 25,000 sqm up from 20,900-ha at the end of 2016.
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