Czech Industrial Zone of the Year 2004(CZ)

Czech ministers handed out awards for the best quality and most beneficial industrial zones in the Czech Republic. The fifth annual "Industrial Zone of the Year" awards are announced under the auspices of the Ministry of Industry & Trade and CzechInvest in cooperation with the Association for Foreign Investment (AFI) and partners in the "Partnership to Support Foreign Direct Investment in the Czech Republic".

The award for Industrial Zone with the Most Economic Benefits was given to the "Cernovicka terasa" Industrial Zone in Brno, while the Zone with the Most Social Benefit in 2004 was the Ostrava Hrabova Industrial Zone - 1st Stage. The Industrial Zone with the Best Town Planning Solution is being prepared by a private developer in Ostrava -– CTPark Ostrava, and the "Brownfield of the Year" was won by the Skoda Plzen Industrial Zone.

"The meaning of Industrial Zone of the Year is to recognize those able to build such industrial zones and who inspire others with their success," said Minister of Industry & Trade Milan Urban in his speech during the ceremony.

"Timely prepared industrial zones also helped the Czech Republic to become one of the most successful in terms of the amount of attracted investment per capita out of all countries of Central and Eastern Europe," said Radomil Novak, CEO of CzechInvest and added: "Thus far 280 investors have pledged to created nearly seventy thousand jobs in supported zones. For every crown (CZK) from the state budget that was allocated to build industrial zones (including costs for regenerating brownfields), private companies invested 32 CZK into new production plants."

Awards for "Industrial Zone of the Year 2004" were given in the following categories:

Industrial Zone with the Most Economic Benefit:
1. "Cernovicka terasa" Industrial Zone in Brno
2. "Kralovsky vrch" Industrial Zone in Kadan
3. Cheb Industrial Park

Industrial Zone with the Most Social Benefit:
1. Ostrava Hrabova Industrial Zone (1st stage)
2. Trinec – Baliny Industrial Zone
3. Koprivnice Industrial Park


Industrial Zone with the Best Town Planning Solution:
CTPark Ostrava

Brownfield of the Year:
Skoda Plzen / HQU International a.s. Industrial Zone

Most Successful Reconstruction of a Business Property (under the Real Estate / OPIE programme):
Benes and Lat / Best Conversion – Building Reconstruction for an SME

Special award for Industrial Zone Manager:
Petr Matousek, Manager of the Pisek – Cizovska Northern Industrial Zone
The other nominees in this award category were: Jiri Stradal, Manager of the Cheb Industrial Park and Miroslav Netolicky, Manager of the Moravska Trebova Industrial Zone.

The industrial zones eligible for these awards were those that met the definition under the Programme to Support Industrial Zone Development of the Ministry of Industry & Trade and CzechInvest, and especially zones in which in the given period an investment was announced by at least one investor from manufacturing, business support services or technology centres. The evaluation criteria reflect both quantitative and qualitative aspects of developing industrial zones during the year 2004.

Based on the Programme to Support Industrial Zone Development of the Ministry of Industry & Trade a total of 89 industrial zones were supported as of the end of 2004. Investors have already occupied nearly 70% of prepared land, which is optimal occupancy. The land remaining is now available to dozens of interested investors who are currently searching for an ideal location in the Czech Republic.

Source: Czech Invest

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