SEZs see growth

Last year the number of permits issued for operating in Poland's special economic zones (SEZs) reached record levels. The 230 permits granted in 2006 amounted to a quarter of the total permits issued since the first SEZ was established in 1995. This led to a significant increase in the amount of money invested in Poland's SEZs last year - zł.10 billion was invested in the 14 zones that are currently operating across Poland, raising the total amount invested in the zones to to zł.35 billion.

The increased investment contributed to a growth in the number of jobs in the country. At the end of 2006, over 150,000 people were employed in SEZs across Poland, an increase of nearly a third on 2005 figures. According a KPMG report on SEZs, published earlier this month, "It is estimated that for every 100 jobs created in the SEZs, a further 50-100 jobs are created in the zone's vicinity." If accurate, over 300,000 new jobs in Poland can be attributed to the SEZs.

The KPMG report also highlighted the SEZs' contribution to the emergence of business clusters across Poland. In six out of the 14 SEZs, the market share of the dominant industry exceeded 60 percent of total investment. In the Legnicka SEZ, the automotive industry accounts for 70 percent of that zone's investments, while in the Katowicka SEZ the same sector amounted to 65 percent of the total investment.

The total area of SEZs in Poland grew by 600 ha in 2006, reaching 8,164 ha. KPMG's report pointed out that economic zones are growing in areas far from their core region.

"It's not the companies who come to the SEZs, but it's the zones that are being created where the investors go," the report said, giving the example of Procter & Gamble, which has a plant in Warsaw on a plot owned by the Łódzka SEZ. It's not uncommon for SEZs to include areas located in distant voivodships - Pomorska SEZ or Łódzka SEZ include land in three different voivodships, while the Tarnobrzeska SEZ is spread across six voivodships.