The city’s decision to create a special economic zone will provide corporations and entrepreneurs with a host of incentives for establishing operations in the area of Szczecin’s former shipyard.

The city council voted to include some 73 hectares in the Trebusz and Duników neighbourhoods and at Lubczyńskiej-Kniewskiej Street within the EURO-PARK MIELEC. The decision reflects the multi-party support for the "Programme for Szczecin", a strategy aimed on coordinating economic development and investment in the area of the New Szczecin Shipyard, the assets of which are being put out to tender by the Polish government’s Industrial Development Agency.

The agency, an arm of the State Treasury responsible for stewarding assets subject to privatisation, approved the plan in November and councilors signed off on the project at an extraordinary session of the council in December.

Extending the zone will stimulate economic growth in areas of the city that were hard-hit when the shipyard no longer became commercially viable in the early years of Poland’s economic transition following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

The city will cooperate with the zone management in developing the area and attracting investors through the extension of tax holidays for up to five years under the Program of Regional Investment Help for establishing new or developing an existing business. In addition, investors may avail themselves of help from the District Employment Office for assistance, training and funding for newly created jobs, with tax credits of up to five years offered for job creation.

Those that site businesses within the zone will be eligible for regional aid programs, including an exemption for up to three years for costs associated with construction of buildings that contain a minimum of 50% high-quality office space. They also will be eligible for lower rates of property tax levied by the city and credits for transport.

For more information, contact the City Development Department investor@um.szczecin.pl