KYSUCKÉ Nové Mesto's proximity to Žilina has made the northern-Slovak town and its surrounding area an attractive location for foreign investors.
Shortly after Korean car-maker Kia built its plant near Žilina, the Kysucké Nové Mesto industrial park, located only 15 kilometres from the plant, became the new home for a number of machinery suppliers and sub-suppliers, such as ARVIN Meritor and SK Metal.
The industrial park has become a part of in the Kysucké Nové Mesto district's business sector, as almost half of the district's population live in the town of Kysucké Nové Mesto. The district's unemployment rate is only seven percent, which would be impossible without the help of the industrial park, Ján Hartel, mayor of Kysucké Nové Mesto, told The Slovak Spectator.
The industrial park consists of the former premises of the state-run rolling-bearings company ZVL and other smaller companies and organisations in the southern part of town, Hartel said.
The largest companies that have emerged as successors of ZVL are the machinery companies KINEX- KLF, KLF - ZVL Kováčna, KLF - ZVL Omnia, NN Slovakia and SK Metal, which produces components for Kia.
However, the most important company in the park has been INA Kysuce, which employs almost 3,000 people, Hartel said.
INA Kysuce will invest around €140 million to increase its production by 2011. The government granted €30 million, approved by the European Commission, to the company, wrote the TASR newswire.
This year, INA Kysuce started construction on a hall for the development and production of special mechanical systems. Production is to be launched next year. About 88 percent of the park's capacity is being used at the moment, Hartel said.
"There are currently certain obstacles to construction in the industrial park because some land ownership issues that have not been settled," Hartel told The Slovak Spectator. He added that the property law issues have been taking too long, which is discouraging for the investors.
"Kysucké Nové Mesto already has vocational schools for mechanical engineers," he continued. "The advantage of having a business in our region that focuses on mechanical engineering is the tradition and background in this area that prepares workers for this kind of production."
