Frenchmen, Italians, Germans in Kula - Opportunity for 300 new jobs in 2012

(Kula)

Once dilapidated and deserted production halls of Kula-based factories in bankruptcy will come to life as early as next year, and about 300 people will be hired to operate machines at the plants of new companies. A French manufacturer of parts and equipment for trucks will start the production in Kula in January 2012 at the latest, in a 5,000-square meter production hall that was once the property of Kula-based Fabrika Armatura (FA) Istra.

- The manufacturer of components for the automotive industry - MPE Balkan, owned by Italy's MPE Srl, and Germany's SBF Natural Casing, manufacturer of food for pets, will also start their production in Kula within the next few months – Kula Deputy Mayor Damjan Miljanic says for eKapija.

- Equipping of production halls is underway, and all three companies will employ up to 100 workers.

These three investments are part of Kula's brownfield program, which was launched last year, and this municipality in Backa is also ready for a greenfield investment.

(production halls of FA Istra)

In the industrial zone in Sivac, 77 workers on probation are already sewing the prestigious sports gear Nes Sportswear for Slovenia's Antares&Bdrp, and the production is expected to reach its peak in November. The plan for the future is to increase the number of employees.

- Sivac is the place where no new production has been launched over the last 20 or 30 years, which makes this investment even more significant - Miljanic explains for our portal.

In addition to this industrial zone and the one in Ruski Krstur, a new 20-hectare work zone with complete infrastructure will be opened in this area as early as in spring 2012.

- Investors have already expressed interest in the new work zone and they are negotiating with municipal authorities - says Miljanic.

- Equipping will be completed within the next few months, and the municipality has taken out a RSD 80 million loan for that purpose and for some additional projects in Sivac and Ruski Krstur – he explains.

- If needed, we will also equip all other locations interesting to potential investors.

The new work zone, on the main route M-3, is situated between Kula and Vrbas, in the vicinity of navigable Bezdan-Becej canal, and about 50,000 people gravitate towards it.

The local railroad Sombor-Vrbas goes through this municipality, whereas E-75 highway is 14 kilometers away and the international railway route Vienna-Budapest-Belgrade is only 10 kilometers away from Kula.

- The municipality has bought the land from private owners, which gives us an opportunity to subsidize investors and offer them certain benefits – says our interlocutor.

In that way, thanks to new measures adopted by the municipality of Kula, each investor who hires 100 or more workers will get a building land for free and 50% discount on the land development fee. Those who employ between 10 and 100 people may be granted 35-45% discount on that fee.

(Sivac)

Investors will also be freed from paying the environment protection and improvement tax during the period of two years. Also, they will not have to pay the costs of connecting plumbing and sewerage facilities to the system.

These measures also apply to investors who already own a building land on which they intend to build facilities, thus creating new jobs.

Smart school opens soon

As part of cross-border cooperation with Croatia, this town on the banks of the Great Backa Canal and the Danube-Tisa-Danube Canal intends to build a "smart school" soon, which is an energy-efficient building that will be heated by means of heat pumps.

- Energy efficiency is a very important direction of the development of our municipality, and basic documents for this project have already been prepared. The first solar power plant in Vojvodina has been put in operation by our technical school Mihajlo Pupin – says Miljanic.

This town is also proud of local manufacturers of energy-efficient equipment: a company producing water heaters that use bales of hay as fuel, and a company producing devices that utilize kitchen salt to filter water.

Private capital for spa center

Kula also has thermal springs, similar to those in Becej, and they could be used to build an aqua park. An investor from Slovenia even signed a letter of intent in 2007, but that idea was later abandoned.

- The municipality has no funds to implement such project by itself. A minimum of RSD 30 million are required just to activate thermal wells. Also, maintenance of a spa resort or an aqua park that could be built here is much too expensive for us. That is why we hope to find an investor, thanks to the new Law on Public-Private Partnership. The investor willing to invest in the exploitation of this natural resource would be allotted about 20 hectares of land for free to build a spa resort on it - Miljanic explains.

More money for local self-government

- We have many ambitious projects, but we failed to obtain funds from the provincial budget for that purpose. Therefore, the increased amount of money from the income tax that is promised to local self-governments will definitely come in handy. We will use it to have local schools and health centers renovated.