Economy and Industry Minister Bogdan Bogdanov argued here Tuesday that industrial zones should be industry-specific and should develop in parallel. He was speaking during the annual meeting of the business with the government, organized by Capital weekly.
He said that the National Company Industrial Zones is preparing a vision for the development of industrial zones and will try to attract representatives of the World Bank. “The idea is that industrial zones be created as investment projects for public-private partnerships with international or local investors interested in partnering with the government,” he explained.
“There is no way investment projects can happen if there is no land prepared for that, so one of the tools is the state industrial zones under the ministry,” Bogdanov said. He argued that industrial zones cannot be developed piecemeal, without infrastructure leading to them, and that they must be developed in a planned manner.
He said that the Dobroslavtsi zone near Sofia would be developed with priority, focusing on the automotive industry and high value-added production. The other is the former airport in Stara Zagora, where investment intentions have already been declared and several projects are in the pipeline, with the expectation that they will be completed this year.
The minister pointed out that investors expect shorter administrative deadlines for their projects; now the procedures can take tens of weeks. He said that, for that, the state institutions need to be modernized.
He argued that the state should provide financial support for investors and do it in a transparent manner that will make sure public interests are protected.
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