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CREAM Group is behind the gradual revitalization of one of the largest brownfields in the country - the large complex of the former Baťa factory in Zlín. It focuses on rental housing and commercial leases in almost all major Czech and Moravian cities. It also operates an internationally acclaimed translation terminal near Košice, Slovakia. For the next 10 years, it is preparing projects in the Czech Republic and Slovakia worth CZK 25 billion.
The Czech investment company CREAM wants to participate in the construction of a large industrial zone worth EUR 2.5 billion near Košice, Slovakia.
The 600-hectare zone is to be developed in cooperation with the Košice Region in the vicinity of the U.S. Steel ironworks and the Interport transshipment facility, which CREAM also operates. The investor's intention is to have the planned industrial zone included in the Catalogue of Strategic Zones, which is approved by the government. Its comprehensive feasibility study should be prepared by this May, after which it will be submitted to the relevant ministries and finally to the cabinet of Prime Minister Robert Fico.
A banking consortium would be in charge of the financing and construction is planned in three phases. The total cost of €2.5 billion includes the construction of infrastructure, production and logistics halls or a research and training centre.
"We are preparing the entire project for the Interport Partners Group, which has established a joint venture with the Košice Region. We have yet to discuss the next steps with them. We have prepared the purchase of the land, we have pre-negotiated cooperation with the University of Košice. If everything goes smoothly, the approval process for the inclusion of the zone in the government catalogue could be completed in the second half of next year," Martin Jarolím, chairman of the board of GLIP, a.s., in which the Košice Region holds a 60% stake, told ČTK.
According to Jarolim, the eastern Slovakia region has a huge potential with its infrastructure, which includes the international container transshipment facility Interport, as it represents a link between the Baltic and Balkan countries as well as the eastern countries with Western Europe. Moreover, the importance of the place will increase even more when the war ends, the reconstruction of Ukraine begins and the routes further east open up again.
The Košice Interport transshipment yard serves primarily for transshipment of cargo from wagons with Central European gauge to the larger eastern gauge. Thanks to a EUR 50 million subsidy from the European Union, it is to be completely modernised to become an important transport hub, especially for rail and road container transport. According to the EU conditions, it should also comply with the Green Deal.
The zone at Košice should be the second in the region. Based on the government's approval in 2021, an industrial park is being built near the village of Valaliky. Its operator, VIP, applied for a building permit in January. The first investor is to be Sweden's Volvo.