THE GERMAN car components producer Dräxlmaier on May 10 made a snap announcement of its decision not to build a plant in southern Slovakia's Rimavská Sobota as originally planned.
The town's mayor, Stefan Cifruš, said the company had sent him a letter announcing its decision to move the investment to Romania.
Dräxlmaier wrote that they changed their investment plans to take advantage of lower costs in Romania.
The municipality has already signed a series of land contracts and cooperation agreements with the German investor. Dräxlmaier's investment, worth Sk700 million (€18.7 million), would have employed 1,200 people.
The municipality is considering demanding that Dräxlmaier pay back the expenses the town has incurred in preparing for the investment, including purchasing land for the intended plant.
According to Hospodárske noviny, the town invested more than Sk30 million (€800,000) in preparing the land for the investor. While the town had to buy the land at the market price, it sold them to the investor for a symbolic sum. It will therefore demand that the land be returned, and will also ask for "moral compensation".
Compiled by Martina Jurinová from press reports
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