ARP proposal for economic zone enlargement may provoke EU objection

The Industrial Development Agency (ARP) will on Friday submit a motion to the economy ministry seeking the enlargement of the Special Economic Zone (SSE) Euro Park Mielec. Under the ARP plan, land in Swidnik and Gorlice would be added to the zone. As part of its efforts to attract investors to Eastern Poland, the ARP has already applied for parts of the cities of Radom, Nisko and Chelm to be incorporated into SSEs. "SSEs do attract capital, even though the terms for operating in them have worsened. The restructuring of state-owned plants has freed up land and left people looking for a job," said ARP chairman Arkadiusz Krezel. The agency is particularly seeking investors who are willing to locate their businesses on the 44 hectares that once belonged to aircraft producer PZL Swidnik. Krezel believes that the site might be attractive to an aircraft components producer. The enlargement of the zones is not expected to please the EU, which sees them as contravening agreements it has with Poland. ARP officials argue, however, that two other zones, in Czestochowa and Modlin, have been cancelled lately, so the total area of SSEs will actually fall. (Puls Biznesu, p. 10) M.K.