Prague - After American company Amazon's plan to build a logistics center in the south-eastern Czech city of Brno was rejected by the city's municipal authority earlier this week, Southern Moravian Region governor Michal Hasek said at a press conference today that the region will offer the US company an alternative site. Hasek refused to specify which site.
“I consider it a rescue mission undertaken by the Southern Moravian Region to help save Amazon's investment in the Czech Republic itself and of course in the Southern Moravian Region,” said Hasek. Brno is the region's capital.
The press conference was attended also by Industry Minister Jan Mladek. Both Hasek and Mladek are Social Democrat (CSSD) members.
However, the north-eastern Czech city of Ostrava is also trying to attract the investment. The industrial region has offered Amazon a site in the Mosnov industrial park. Ostrava Mayor Petr Kajnar said he plans to meet with Amazon officials.
“The city of Ostrava has previously offered the Amazon company a possibility to install the logistics center in the Mosnov industrial area. We were interested in Amazon's presence in the region and we still are,” said Kajnar, adding that an 80 hectare zone is already available in Mosnov and that it can be possibly expanded to 120 hectares. The mayor said though that it is not clear if the site is logistically suitable to Amazon. “It's up to them. I am, say, in unofficial contact with the officials, I am waiting for them to come, I am possibly prepared to speak with them.”
Ostrava is the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region, which backs the initiative. “The prime minister promised that the Mosnov zone would be immediately offered by CzechInvest as an alternative,” the region's governor Miroslav Novak (CSSD) told the Czech Press Agency.
The state-run CzechInvest agency has also offered Amazon sites in the Plzen and Zlin regions, and neighboring Slovakia is also interested in hosting the logistical center.
The original investment in Brno was estimated to be worth CZK 2.7 billion (approximately EUR 100 million) and to create 1,500 jobs.
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