More flexibility in the placement of new investments also in smaller cities and the creation of well-paid jobs - according to the participants of the Forum of the Regions, the main advantages of the new rules changing the functioning of special economic zones.
In May this year, the Sejm of the Republic of Poland adopted the Act on the principles of supporting new investments, introducing fundamental changes in the current functioning of special economic zones. Tax preferences have been introduced depending on the place of investment, the nature and quality of the jobs created.
In addition, investors will be able to benefit from tax exemptions not only in the zone but throughout the country.
What this means for local governments and business was discussed by the participants of the panel entitled “The Single Investment Area for Local Governments”, which took place 6 September during the Forum of Regions in Krynica.
In May this year, the Sejm of the Republic of Poland adopted the Act on the principles of supporting new investments, introducing fundamental changes in the current functioning of special economic zones. Tax preferences have been introduced depending on the place of investment, the nature and quality of the jobs created. In addition, investors will be able to benefit from tax credits not only in the zone but throughout the country
Janusz Michałek, President of the Katowice Special Economic Zone stressed that the effects to date 22 The years of special zones show that this is a good tool that changes the face of regions and the whole country. “By doing so, Silesia has changed over this time from one where heavy industry dominates the modern world,” said Michałek.
However, he pointed out that “the biggest pain of the previous law, which was to function formally to 2026 there were so-called boundaries, i.e. places where a potential investor could invest".
According to the head of the KSEZ, this barrier caused Poland to lose competition for foreign investments with the Czech Republic and Slovakia “only because we could not cover the zone of the place designated by the potential investor”.
„This barrier now does not exist and it is a revolutionary change not only of mentality and our way of making investments, but for the opponents of the zones it is out. one from the main arguments to the criticism that we place investments only in specific places. Now anyone who meets certain criteria can get support and relief," said Michałek.
Paweł Lulewicz, vice president of the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone, also pointed to greater flexibility in investment placement. "Now all areas in Poland that are investment areas are covered by this privilege, which has been reserved so far for several dozen one thousand hectares across the country. This is a change that reduces the service time of investors" - emphasised Lulewicz.
In his opinion, the advantage of the new law is the introduction of qualitative criteria in the placement of investments, which are to eliminate the so-called cheapest jobs.
„Today in Poland the problem is not unemployment, but lack of hands to work, so qualitative criteria are meant to make these investments good, technologically advanced and high-paid," Lulewicz said.
Grzegorz July, a member of the Management Board of the Małopolskie Voivodeship, pointed out that the new regulations significantly increased the minimum thresholds for new investments carried out in special zones. "So far this threshold has been quite low and was 100,000 EUR, This was an amount that even small entrepreneurs could afford. Today's lowest threshold is 500,000 PLN for small businesses and 200,000 PLN for micro-enterprises," said July.
He added that in the case of the Małopolska province the minimum threshold for micro-enterprises is 400,000 PLN in the district of Dąbrowski, and in the districts of Tatrański and Szrzzanowski it is even 800,000 PLN. „In Krakow, in order to obtain such a decision to support, you have to make a minimum investment 2,000,000 PLN, So it's a pretty big amount. And for big companies it's already 100,000,000 PLN” – indicated Deputy Marshal of the Lesser Poland Province.
Referring to these data, Krzysztof Kielec, President of the Kostrzyn-Słubice Special Economic Zone pointed out that these rates concern districts with relatively low unemployment rates. He indicated that the average amounts for the whole country were lower.
In turn, Józef Nowicki, President of Konina, said that until now there was no economic zone impact in his town. He stressed that even though the city has 80 ha well-armed investment sites along the main transport routes and despite the use of investor support packages, these activities were ineffective. "Therefore, we have very high hopes in this new regulation," Nowicki noted.
He added that the city not only cares about large investments. "We would like these investment areas to satisfy the expectations of various investors about the area needed. We also hope that medium and small companies will find space to invest in our city," Nowicki said.
The Forum of the Regions is an event from 2007 accompany the Economic Forum in Krynica. It is a platform for exchanging views and a meeting place for local and regional leaders from Central and Eastern Europe with business and the scientific community. Among the topics raised during this year's Forum were, among others, cohesion policy.
2020, new rules for the operation of special economic zones and their impact on local governments, management, innovation, intelligent regional specialisation, infrastructure development, interregional and cross-border cooperation, finance, sustainable development, business and local government cooperation and the post-election future of local government units.
Source: PAP Press Center