News Analysis: Slovakia wants new rules to attract major investments

Slovakia stands a big chance of attracting another car maker that would create thousands of jobs.

According to Bloomberg, Jaguar Land Rover is deciding between Slovakia and Poland as the country for its new car plant.

The Slovak daily Hospodarske Noviny describing the possible investment as "the investment of the decade." Therefore Slovak government has changed law in order to increase chance to win this investment. At the end of June, Slovak parliament approved an amendment to the Act on Investments of Significance.

The bill seeks to speed up investment processes to the benefit of important investors, including construction permits, building and zoning plans.

"We've had cases in the past when large investments slipped us by, because unfortunately there are no large plots or big industrial parks in Slovakia," stressed Slovak Economy Minister Vazil Hudak, adding that Poland and the Czech Republic have 100 to 500 hectare plots ready to cater to such investments.

"Slovakia is attempting to attract large strategic investments, with these investors demanding large plots of land that would also be prepared in terms of logistics. This bill should facilitate the related processes," said Hudak.

According to Hudak, Slovakia needs to build appropriate industrial park very soon, because the car producer will make the decision by the middle of September.

"We lost out on two major investments in last year because of our inability to offer such big parks," pointed out Hudak, confirming that the two investments concerned ventures by Apollo and Nexen. Endit