Trade center, hotel and fun park in Pećinci - investment by Italian "Bernardi" of over 250m EUR

- Italian company "Bernardi" will invest more than 250m EUR in construction of business-commercial and tourist center in Pećinci, of which first phase should be finished in December 2010 - the owner of company "Bernardi", Riccardo Di Tommasso, announced today (May 27, 2009).

Tommasso was unable to specify when the works would commence because it depends on the adoption of the land-utilization plan for the parcel, which should be made by the municipality.

(Riccardo Di Tommasso)

- The complex will be built at the parcel of 100 ha, and the works may commence within 90 days from the moment the municipality adopts the plan. We will first have an outlet built at 40,000 square meters, which will require employment of about 1,000 people, and the whole investment will create nearly 5,000 jobs - Tommasso said at the press conference in the municipality in Vojvodina.

After the outlet, which will be similar to "Bernardi" facilities in Italy, a fun park will be built. Centre "Brico", similar to Swedish "Ikea", will occupy the area of 30,000 square, while the part with small shops will be built at 100,000 square meters. The complex will also include a vocational-trade center, as well as a hotel with 250 beds.

(Maurizio Gerussi)

- The Centre will be situated about 100 meters away from the access to Belgrade-Zagreb highway - Maurizio Gerussi, the project architect, explained.

- We are currently thinking about infrastructural equipping of the parcel. We need to enable supply of gas, which will, most probably, be taken care of by company "Petrol". Our facilities consume the same amount of power per day as a town with 40,000 inhabitants. We have also started negotiations about introduction of water and electricity.

The President of the Executive Council of Vojvodina, Bojan Pajtić, said that "Bernardi's" investment in Pećinci was the result of excellent cooperation between Vojvodina and Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as readiness of municipality of Pećinci to provide infrastructural and logistic support.

(Bojan Pajtić)

- With this investment, the value of foreign investments in Vojvodina since 2000 will reach the amount of 5 billion EUR, thanks to which 60,000 jobs have been created - said Pajtić.

He pointed out that "Bernardi" would receive technical support from the Executive Council of Vojvodina, as well as financial aid of 1,300 EUR for each newly employed worker.

- In addition to financial effect, this investment also has important marketing effect because the arrival of significant Italian company in our market will attract those companies that have, so far, hesitated to invest in Serbia - said Pajtić.

Group "Bernardi" owns 180 department stores in Italy, and it is also present in the markets of Romania, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq and other countries in the Near East.

The company also works on development of shopping centres for 20 years, and it has, so far, opened 10 such facilities in Italy. It is, currently, building the largest trade centre in Europe, alongside Trieste- Slovenia highway.