Can the government in the current volatile state solve a problem that can revive the easternmost Croatian town?
A 25 million Euro investment, with a potential of around 500 new jobs, looms over Vukovar, a phenomenal story for this neglected town, reports Jutarnji list on June 1, 2016.
Elvio Florian, owner of Italian Florian Group has announced, as part of his company’s investment plan for Croatia, his intent to open a new parquet factory in Vukovar, cogeneration plant and pellet production. Besides the direct jobs created, Florian pointed out the potential of 5-6 smaller companies from the wood industry to join as partners.
“We want smaller sawmills and other companies in the wood industry to work for us. We guarantee the competitiveness of products as we are present in many world markets, while making an almost 8% increase in profits in Croatia every year,” says Florian.
Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava confirmed the Italian group’s interest and has spoken to Economy Minister Tomislav Panenić about it, requesting government support without which the investment will be hard to realize.
“Florian sent a binding letter of intent detailing his business in Vukovar. Our dialogue was of high quality, but as this is a specific branch of industry, he needs certain guarantees, which only the government can provide,” Penava said, confirming the factory would be built in Vukovar’s economic zone, additionally interesting due to the availability of the Port of Vukovar.
The requested guarantees pertain to raw materials from local forests to be supplied by Croatian Woods company. 200 jobs would be opened in three production lines, while others would be in the transport, sawmill, port and raw materials branches.
“This is a serious story, a large group doing business in the entire world, set to produce the final product in Vukovar for export. It’s a great opportunity for Vukovar, not to be missed although I know there will be lobbies against this. We won’t give in easy and plan to hold a conference in Vukovar where Elvio Florian will personally present his plans,” added Penava.
Such an investment would be paramount for a town with 2.300 unemployed. Local government has done its part, it is now up to politics to do the rest and enable this production investment. It will entail solving the problem of insufficient wood material quotas, an obstacle to all companies in the Croatian wood industry for years.
