Every municipality in our voivodeship [regional administrative area] offers its own package of advantages for investors: tax allowances, assistance in arrangements for investment commencement and simplification of the procedures.
An Investors’ Service Centre, which is a branch of The Polish Agency for Foreign Investment (PAIZ), was set up in the city of Szczecin and is mainly focused on giving potential investors thorough information about investment offers in the municipalities, the allowances available and tax law; it also offers a legal service covering permissions for initialising investments given by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, and facilitates contacts with bank services for investments.
Location – near the Baltic Sea and in the river basin of Oder – makes the region attractive for foreign investors.
2 How do you visualise investment in your region by 2006?
Steps have been taken to improve access to the region. One of the urgent goals is the construction of a ring road in the western part of Szczecin to connect the border crossing point in Kolbaskowo/Pomellen with the future high-water bridge that connects Police with Swieta and further, in the area of Goleniow, with the A3 motorway.
This will shorten the journey from the industrial areas near Szczecin to the system of national and international expressways and motorways. It will also eliminate heavy road transport from Szczecin.
A project is under way to construct a permanent connection between Nowe Warpno and Uznam island through Szczecin Bay and a project to construct a permanent connection between the islands of Wolin and Uznam by means of a bridge or a tunnel is being considered. Urgent modernisation of roads is needed: the A3 from Szczecin to the junction with the highway A2; the national road connecting Szczecin with Gdansk, Bydgoszcz and Warsaw; and the national road from Kolobrzeg through Koszalin to Poznan in order to receive the parameters of an expressway.
Another urgent goal is the modernisation of the regional airport in Goleniow.
3 What steps will you take to overcome any challenges you currently face?
A credit guarantee fund has been created and there are preparations to set up an investment fund, which will be created with the use of financing provided by banks, leasing and insurance companies.
4 Tell us about one or two forthcoming major FDI projects in your area.
With the participation of a Danish investor (Glass Fieber) a windmill airscrew production plant is being constructed and the production of components for wind power plants is being initiated with the participation of Spanish and American capital. Norwegian capital is engaged in an auto hulk utilisation plant.
Investors from Kazakhstan have started negotiations on capital investment in the chemical and clothing industry and have offered investors from our region the possibility of investing in Kazakhstan in the construction of wind power plants, mines and roads.
Negotiations are also being held with Irish investors, who intend to invest capital in our region. Works connected with the construction of a big recreation complex in Przybiernow (park Fantasia) and Ustronie Morskie are already advanced.
5 What incentives have you developed to secure investment over the coming years?
A map of investment terrains in the Westpomeranian region has been produced indicating the kind of investment we are looking for and its background (communication, energy supply, waste-water disposal, waste utilisation).
Another incentive, which provides some protection for investors, is the participation of a municipality in the investments. We are taking steps to enlarge the capital of the Credit Guarantee Fund. And there is a possibility of obtaining government guarantees through the The Polish Agency for Foreign Investment.
