The total of private investments attracted towards Oradea’s industrial parks, until now, amounts to 345 million euros, of which 99 million euros were attracted in 2018, bound to generate a total number of 7,500 jobs by 2020.
The investments achieved in the past years in Oradea, have made the city on the Crișul Repede river one of the most attractive cities in Western Romania for investors. As of late, a great number of companies of international renown have chosen to invest in Oradea’s industrial parks, benefitting from numerous facilities provided by the city hall.
The Industrial Parks
The Oradea Local Development Agency S.A. owns three industrial park titles, for three sites located on Borșului Avenue (130.02 ha) – The Oradea Industrial Park I, on Ogorului street (83.5 ha) – the Oradea Industrial Park II, respectively on Uzinelor street – the Oradea Industrial Park III (17 ha). In early 2019 the necessary documents for obtaining the title for the Oradea Industrial Park IV (6.5 ha) have been submitted – on Corneliu Baba street. The industrial parks offer all the necessary utilities, with competitive prices, Oradea also being licensed in distributing electric energy.
New projects for development and offering new facilities, including: International School of Oradea; Eurobusiness Vocational School – dual system schooling; Nursery and Kindergarten in EBP I (Industrial Park I); Integrated Services Complex in EBP I – accommodation spaces, restaurant, gym, pharmaceutic point, courier services point, multifunctional ATM; electric charging station for vehicles, Partnership with the only German-language teaching high school in Bihor county, Friedrich Schiller, The Spot Youth Center – integrated teaching, University of Oradea’s Center for Technologic Transfer.
The Intermodal Terminal
Through the General Transport Master Plan, Romania aims to build intermodal terminals to assure a road/railway transfer, program financed through the Operational Program for The Large Infrastructure Operational Programme (LIOP), priority axis 2.
The main result achieved following the investment in the intermodal terminal infrastructure, consists of the growth in intermodal transport appeal, transposed through an: increased volume of container goods manipulated in intermodal unities; the streamlining in goods transport and improving the transport’s impact on the environment and traffic safety; decongesting road transport reducing the number of traffic accidents, the level of emissions from motor vehicles and the noise threshold in the city; socio-economic development of the area through incomes for the local budget as well as creating new jobs.
An Incubator for Businesses – “I Grow the Greater Oradea”
The Oradea Municipality City Hall alongside ADLO won a project for building an incubator aimed to become a “Center of creativity and innovation” for creative entrepreneurs. It will be the place where creations by these entrepreneurs to be brought to the limelight by organizing activities (trainings, conferences, dedicated days/sub-domains, fairs etc.) to attract more and more members and followers (bloggers, the local and international press, international creators, shared experience etc.).
“Our mission is to support with all efforts the impetus and development in the field of cultural and creative industries in the North-West Region, an activity that is complementary, real and viable to the region’s industrialization inertia. We put ourselves into service for this goal with the initiative’s Founder, the Oradea Municipality, with all the resources at our disposal, first our expertise of supporting businesses and organization with which we have collaborated in the past and who will become official partners in this initiative, and last but not the last, the public and private financial resources which will attract for this purpose. We wish to contribute in this way to the development of the North-West Region in a larger scope, at the Central and South-Eastern Europe Region level,” stated Alina Silaghi, ADLO CEO.
“MakeIT in Oradea”
In the IT sector, the North-West Region is dominated by the two poles: Cluj-Napoca and Timișoara, established university centers due to their large numbers of IT&C specialization graduates and numerous outsourcing or research companies in this field.
Aware of the possibilities for growth in this field, as well as IT’s role in every local activity sectors, considering the young people’s growing interest in the IT field, the Oradea municipality proposes to become actively involved in developing the tech ecosystem in Oradea, aspiring for it to become a national development pole in the IT field.
Starting with this general objective, the local authority, alongside the representatives of local companies in the IT field have drawn up a measures program titled “Make it in Oradea!” / “MakeIT in Oradea” which will grow to the degree of interaction between municipality, Oradea high schools, university and consecrated IT companies, offering a real chance for the youth to stay or come (back) to Oradea.
The proposed measures package in this sense includes: building an investment fund to support Oradea’s IT startups; reducing the property tax for spaces used by IT companies; financial aid for students enrolled in Oradea’s universities (scholarships for students in the 11th and 12th grades).
The local IT companies will benefit from financial aid through an investment fund administered by the Oradea Municipality and the main local IT firms. Furthermore, they will have access to fiscal facilities (like reducing building taxes) for the properties where IT firms conduct their businesses.
The agency follows its purpose for which it was founded 11 years ago, namely that of building and supporting development projects, to be the binding agent between the public environment, the private environment and educational institutions.
Article written with the support of ADLO’s specialists
(From the special edition of TB 86 – „ENJOY TRANSYLVANIA!” – May/June 2019)
