Ready for big investments - municipality of Kula interested in private-public partnerships in field of industrial production, agribusiness and tourism

(Velibor Milojičić, the President of Town Hall of Kula)

- Municipality of Kula is working on creation of the ambient to attract investors, and Economic Forum "Bačka 09" that we organized at the end of 2009 will, definitely, help us do that. That meeting, which gathered over 150 entrepreneurs, showed to all potential investors that there are people in Kula and the region who think positively and who are ready to create favorable conditions for all those who want to improve their operations and the economy of Bačka - Velibor Milojičić, the President of the Town Hall of Kula, told "eKapija".

According to the words of Milojičić, Kula offers the possibility of investments in several industrial sectors, agribusiness and tourism.

Industrial sector - realization much below capacities

When it comes to industrial operations, the municipality of Kula, with 7 industrial zones, is willing to allot municipal land to investors at favorable prices. Attractive prices of land, favorable geographic position of Kula (the vicinity of Hungarian and Croatian borders), as well as cheaper and qualified manpower, represent some of the concrete benefits offered by that municipality. "Hellenic Sugar", "Euro-in", "PG Lorenzetti" are only some of the foreign companies that have recognized the potentials and invested in the municipality of Kula.

Construction of industrial zone "Block 66" in Kula is underway, and it will provide the infrastructure conditions for attracting local and foreign investors, realization of start-up programmes and programmes for development of economic activities with the aim of creating new jobs and improving the quality of life. Total surface of the zone is 85.85 ha, and the owner of the project is the municipality of Kula.

Industrial zone "Block 66" is settled between Kula and Vrbas, alongside main route M-3. Construction of sewerage system and substation (of up to 630 kW) is necessary, and there are also conditions for construction of developed gas pipeline network.

When asked if any of the zones can be expanded, Milojičić said the following:

- If we are lucky enough to come in the situation that the existing surfaces of industrial zones become small, there is plenty of land next to the road whose purpose we can change.

Agribusiness

The municipality of Kula has 42,818.5 ha of cultivable land of high production quality, which, together with favorable climate and huge water resources, represents a big potential for intensive agricultural production and development of successful agribusiness. Total surface of the agricultural land owned by the state is 10,059 ha. There is also a developed and detailed network of land reclamation canals, with the basic canal network as a backbone for further development of irrigation systems and improvement of agricultural production. Development and improvement of agribusiness, for which there are quality raw material potentials, appropriate spatial conditions and qualified manpower, have great prospects due to great interest of the surrounding markets, which can absorb this production.

Tourist potentials of Bačka's municipality

The location of Mali Stapar with its natural beauties represents a suitable place for construction of accommodation capacities for nautical and excursion tourism.

(Mali Stapar)

What is relevant is the project for construction of spa-tourist center "Razvala", which should utilize the natural springs of thermal water in the region of Razvala and offers rehabilitation and sports recreation to the users from the whole region. According to the Kula's Land-utilization plan, this project is placed in the segment of tourist recreation. Construction of geothermal source will take three months, while construction of tourist-recreational facility "Razvala" will take one year. Elaboration of the project and thorough hydro-geological research, research and exploitation of hydro-thermal springs and hydro-dynamic research cost 30m RSD, and the funds are provided from the budgets of the municipality of Kula and AP Vojvodina.

Construction of spa and tourist center is estimated at 10m EUR. The owners of the project are the municipality of Kula and private investors. According to the words of Kula's officials, the municipality is ready to accept public-private partnerships in construction of tourist facilities.

Greenfield and brownfield investments

The most significant potentials for greenfield investments in Kula are in the field of food industry, which relies on the developed raw material base and production in the field of new technologies, as well as in spa, health-recreational and other forms of tourism.

There are many potentials for brownfield investments, starting from production of textile and clothing (textile factory "Sloboda"), metal-processing industry (armature factory "Istra"), furniture production (furniture factory "Kramer"), to the activation of capacities in agricultural production, primarily in cattle growing and viticulture.

Kula also has great potentials for production of energy from renewable sources. The potentials lie in agricultural waste, geothermal sources, wind power, as well as solar energy.

Road links

The municipality of Kula is situated in fertile Vojvodina's plain, at the crossroads between Novi Sad (52 km), Sombor (40 km) and Subotica (60km). It is 132 kilometers away from Belgrade. Bački Breg, the border crossing with Hungary is 66km away from Kula, while the Danubian port of Bogojevo and the border crossing with Croatia are only 38 km away from that town. Main route M-3 is passing through the municipality, while international railway (Vienna-Budapest-Belgrade) is only 10 km away from local railway Sombor-Sivac-Crvenka-Kula-Vrbas that goes through the municipality. The Danube-Tisa-Danube canal also passes through the municipality of Kula.