PRAGUE. MARCH 23. INTERFAX CENTRAL EUROPE - Slovakia Friday published the details of a contract it signed with South Korean electronics firm Samsung Electronics, whereby the Slovak state will contribute some 23.4%, or EUR 74.9 mln, of the total EUR 320 mln investment in an LCD display plant.
According to the 108-page long agreement signed last Tuesday, Slovakia will provide some EUR 51.2 mln as a direct grant, EUR 18.7 mln in tax relief and EUR 5 mln as a contribution to new employee wages, according to the contract as posted on the website of the country's Economy Ministry.
The funding must be approved by the European Commission and if the country misses the deadlines set out in the contract, it risks losing the electronics goods producer's investment.
Construction of the LCD display plant in Voderady, Western Slovakia, should start in some six weeks, Slovak investment agency Sario said Friday, and production should start in March 2008.
"The construction should start very soon, within some 50 days from the official signing of the deal [March 13]," Slovak investment agency Sario spokesperson Jana Murinova told Interfax.
The plant, which will eventually employ 1,200 people, would be Samsung's second operation in Slovakia, where the South Korean company invested a total of EUR 131.4 mln between 2002 and 2006, to reportedly become Slovakia's fourth-largest exporter during the first half of last year.