The strategic industrial park has been approved by the Slovak government as a significant investment. The benefit in employment represents 4 to 5 thousand jobs in the region of eastern Slovakia. The construction of the plant will also expand the road and rail transport infrastructure.
In the second half of July this year, the company Strategic Park Valaliky, which was established in March 2022, submitted the plan to the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. The only partner in it is the Ministry of Economy (MH) of the Slovak Republic with a cash contribution of over 85 million euros.
Why Valaliky?
MH SR in cooperation with the government Slovak Agency for the Development of Investments and Trade and the state company MH INVEST II. identified the territory in the cadastral territory of Valalika near Košice as the most suitable candidate for a strategic industrial park. The reasons are as follows:
The existence of capacity options for connecting all utility networks
Secured traffic access to key road corridors – at a distance of 2 km from the planned main entrance to the park, the I/17 road connects to the four-lane road E71-R4, which leads to the border with the Republic of Hungary.
By the time the park is completed, access to the four-lane road R2 (Košice bypass) should be available at the same traffic junction, which will be connected to the D1 highway in Košické Oľšany.
Secured traffic access by railway with both normal and wide gauge from Košice in the direction of the Republic of Hungary and Ukraine.
As part of the preparatory stages for the potential investment of the BMW car company, preparatory works were already carried out in the location in 2018, which have the potential to speed up the implementation of the project.
New production technology
The plan was presented by the company in four variants, they differ in the arrangement of the operational buildings and their orientation inside the industrial park. Its facilities include a test track, visitor building, training and health center and sports facilities.
The strategic park will be the first production plant in the automotive industry in Slovakia to introduce the production technology of high-pressure casting. The investment also includes the construction of transport connections and the necessary amount of parking spaces, as well as transport and energy connections to the industrial park. Furthermore, there are water connections and the provision of drainage and wastewater treatment.
A combination of anti-noise measures
In the plan prepared by the company EKOKONSULT-enviro, it is stated that the comparison of the four variants with the zero variant shows an increase in positive impacts in the social sphere with a slight increase in negative outputs in individual components of the environment. The most significant negative impact is slightly increased emissions from mobile sources in the vicinity of the proposed activity, as well as slightly increased noise and traffic congestion.
To this, the submitter adds that the identified negative impacts are significantly below the limits in view of the applicable legislation, and the difference between the variants is negligible in terms of environmental impacts.
In the modification of Variant 4 – 4A, the anti-noise measures are a combination of anti-noise walls and earth mounds. The material recommends Variant 4 with the condition of implementing mitigating measures. In case, in the next stage of the project documentation, it is proven that another of the proposed variants is more acceptable, it is possible to recommend another described variant on the basis of acceptable impacts on the environment.
