Bringing in investors
Last week amendments to the Bill on Special Economic Zones (SEZs) came into force. A major change is the enlargement of the total area of SEZs by 4,000 hectares to 12,000 hectares.
The Deputy Minister of Economy, Andrzej Kaczmarek, assured that only large areas (meaning those over 150-200 ha) will be added to the SEZs. Another stipulation of the law is that land previously belonging to the Agricultural Property Agency and the Military Property Agency will be passed to the zones.
The decision was applauded by the SEZs. "This amended bill offers a big opportunity for the economic zones. We have 70 percent of our area in use so if it weren't for the amendment we would have to think about changing the profile of our activities," the president of Łód SEZ, Maciej Radkiewicz, said.
Teresa Korycińska, deputy director of the Support Instruments Department of the Ministry of Economy, looked to soothe concerns that the decision to enlarge the SEZs is against EU regulations. "In the Accession Treaty there is no mention of liquidating SEZs," she said. Korycińska pointed out that Poland offered to freeze its SEZ program if it was allowed to maintain public aid for investors after joining the EU. "Since we didn't get EU permission for it, our declaration is not binding," she explained.
But the Ministry of Economy's plans go beyond the amendment. As Kaczmarek explained, the Ministry has prepared a draft bill on investor incentives, which regulates such issues as simplifying the negotiation process, preparing land for investments or changing the status of land, for example, from farm land or woodland to industrial. "The Ministry's proposal is a further change in the legal system aiming at drawing in investors," Kaczmarek said. The Minister also declared that he will try to win more financial sources for investor incentives.
While the government works on incentives aimed at bringing new investors into Poland, the president of the Wałbrzych SEZ, Mirosław Greber, says it shouldn't forget about investors who are already present in Poland. "We can't stop promotion activities after winning an investor," he says, adding that 20 percent of all investments in SEZs are carried out by investors who are already present.
At the end of 2005, over 103,500 people were employed in 14 SEZs across Poland and the total investment amounted to zł.27 billion. According to a report by KPMG, 180 new investment permits were issued in SEZs last year and the level of investment was zł.7 billion. This should result in the creation of around 24,000 new jobs.
