Italian company gets free land in Apatin - Flasch plans to build textile factory worth EUR 26.6 million

Apatin Mayor Zivorad Smiljanic signed June 25th an agreement with the representatives of Italy's Flasch to allot a building land for free to this company to build a factory for finishing and dyeing textiles, it was announced on the website of the Apatin municipality.

Smiljanic signed this agreement with Roberto Vitti, the director of the Flasch company. The investment, which covers the construction of aforementioned factory, dyeing facility and all other necessary buildings and warehouses as well as the procurement of equipment, machines, hardware and software, is valued at EUR 26.6 million, and the plan is to employ in excess of 200 workers at the factory that is going to be built within the complex of the freight and transportation center.

It is specified in the Agreement that the Apatin municipality allots a 128,972 sqm building land for free pursuant to the Serbian government's regulations on the conditions under which a local self-government can alienate or rent out a building land free of charge or below the market price.

Flasch has submitted a bank guarantee of EUR 1,289,720 to be activated in case the company fails to fulfill its promise to hire 203 permanent workers. This money will then be paid to the account of the municipality of Apatin.

Before signing the Agreement, Smiljanic thanked Vitti for deciding to implement this big project in Apatin instead of Subotica and Backa Topola.

Smiljanic also expressed gratitude to the director of the Serbia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SIEPA), Bozidar Laganin, for the fact that this institution is going to grant EUR 5,000 for every newly employed worker at the future textile plant in Apatin.

Vitti said that Apatin was chosen because of the proximity of the Danube River and the abundance of water in Apatin.

He added that the factory required not only cutting-edge technology, but also top-quality human resources.

The Agreement forbids the alienation of the land by Flasch Srb d.o.o. over the period of six years, after which the Italian company must pay the land market value to the municipality of Apatin, but no less than EUR 10 per square meter, if it decides to sell the land.