As No Investors Are Available, Curtici Free Zone Wants To Sell Warehouse

Paula Bulzan, Arad

The Curtici - Arad Free Zone Administration has finished building a warehouse and is planning to sell or lease it, but the current economic circumstances are not favouring such prospects. Land in the Free Zone is no longer attractive, with the exception of the companies operating outside the European Union, as all European companies stopped receiving any incentives upon Romania"s accession.

Specifically, the Curtici - Arad Free Zone Administration wants to sell a warehouse of 318 square meters within the Curtici - Arad Free Zone for a minimum price of 157,800 EUR plus VAT and concede the respective land for the concession rate card price. For this purpose, the Free Zone Administration has asked the Arad County Council for approval to organize an auction for the respective sale and concession.

If no bidders are interested, the Free Zone Administration will proceed in line with Government Decision no 1669/2004 endorsing the Methodological Norms for the rental of assets in the public or private property of the state or of territorial administrative units. Thus, the Free Zone Administration will organize a public tender to rent the warehouse and the adjacent 974 square meters of land.

The minimum price for the auction to rent space in the Curtici - Arad Free Zone is 1 EUR per square meter per month for the land and 2.5 EUR per square meter per month for the warehouse. The rental contract will be signed for minimum one month and maximum 5 years.

Concurrently, the county authorities are continuing the procedure the transform the Curtici - Arad Free Zone into a Special Industrial Park subordinated to the Curtici Town Hall. Thus, the Curtici Town Hall could sell the land to investors or offer them other incentives.

The Curtici - Arad Free Zone Administration also announced the availability of several plots of land totalling 35 hectares. The management continues to try to bring further investors on the available land.

The Free Zone currently has two platforms, the Airport Platform of 15 hectares and the Curtici Platform of 70 hectares. Both host over 140 companies. Approximately 1,700 operating licenses have been released since these companies started operations in the Curtici - Arad Free Zone.