THE DUTCH company Yssel, which specialises in the production and processing of reinforcement steel, has already tried and failed twice to carry out a significant investment in eastern Slovakia. Now it plans to invest €30 million into a new plant for the production of concrete parts for the construction of buildings in the village of Obid, close to Štúrovo.
The plant should employ 150 people within a year with prospects to increase its labour force up to 300, the Hospodárske Noviny daily reported in mid-October.
“We want to extend production which is patented and unique in Europe,” Viera Dingová, representative of the company said, as cited by Hospodárske Noviny. “It enables production of panels as long as up to 30 metres.
Yssel unveiled its plan in 2008, when it wanted to obtain the statute of a significant investment. This plan has not materialised, nor did the next one three years later when it failed to find a proper piece of land. Štúrovo Mayor Ján Oravec believes that this time Yssel will be successful, even without aid from the state.
Customised panels to be manufactured in Obid should be used for the construction of offices, schools or hospitals. Most of them will be exported to Germany and the Netherlands. This is why it considers access to the Danube River as important.
The investment of Yssel might help to reduce the high jobless rate in the Nové Zámky district now standing at about 11 percent. The lack of jobs forces locals to look for work in nearby Hungary. The local job office registers 2,700 job seekers, according to the TASR newswire. In September it was able to offer only three work positions.
“This would the first large investment in Štúrovo since the arrival of the paper mill in the 1960s,” Oravec said.
The production in the plant should start in two phases; the first one is planned for the second half of 2015.
The plant in Obid will not be the first investment of the Dutch company in Slovakia, as its Slovak affiliation already employs about 300 people in Palárikovo and Štúrovo. In Slovakia it has been active since 2007.
