Tractorul Owners, Indian Investor Negotiate Production Restart

Ovidiu Vranceanu, BraŞov

Works on the retail park with a leasable surface of 90,000 square meters will begin in November, according to Silviu Savin, the Director of Flavus Investitii SRL, which acquired the assets of Tractorul S.A. two years ago. He announced that the company was in an advanced phase of negotiations with an Indian manufacturer of heavy machinery and construction equipment interested in entering the tractor market. "They came here and evaluated this investment opportunity. We will soon receive their answer regarding a possible restart of the tractor production," Savin added.

The 120 hectares of the former Tractorul factory account for 10% of the overall surface of the city of Brasov. Only 25 of the 120 hectares will be used for modern, environmentally friendly industry. The former industrial facility Tractorul will be substantially reorganized following investments of approximately 1.5 billion EUR to be made by Flavus Investitii SRL and partners. Flavus is currently trying to establish a partnership with the municipality in order to obtain structural funding to render the industrial site environmentally friendly.

Works on the Coresi district of Brasov will begin in the second half of the year on a part of the former Tractorul S.A. land. "We will divide the surface into five modules. The construction of each module will take approximately three years," said Silviu Savin, one of the two Directors of Flavus Investitii SRL.

Coresi is intended to be the largest urban regeneration project in South-Eastern Europe. When ready, it will comprise a residential area, office buildings and the largest commercial centre in Brasov County. According to Savin, the residential component will consist of over 6,000 apartments. The fist module - comprising a mall as well as apartment and office buildings - is scheduled for commissioning in 2011 on a 150 million EUR budget.

Coresi will also include an exhibition centre with an overall surface of 25,000 square meters and a hotel with a conference hall of 1,000 - 1,500 seats.