BELGRADE (Serbia), August 23 (SeeNews) – Chinese company Shandong Linglong intends to open 1,500 jobs at the tyre factory it plans to build in Zrenjanin, in northern Serbia, the city government said.
"It will be one of the most modern tyre factories in Europe, its construction will secure jobs for 1,500 workers. Of course, all environmental standards will be respected because it is a cutting-edge technology," Zrenjanin mayor Cedomir Janjic said in a press release on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Shandong Linglong said it plans to invest $994.4 million (859.9 million euro) in the construction of a tyre factory in Zrenjanin. Construction works are planned to officially start in April 2019 and will be carried out in three phases, with the last one to be completed in March 2025.
The investment project is a result of negotiations that lasted for about a year and Zrenjanin was picked as it was the only Serbian city able to provide a 136-hectare plot of land needed for the construction of the factory, Janjic said.
Representatives of Shandong Linglong are expected to arrive in Zrenjanin on Thursday to sign documents related to the investment, the mayor added.
The investment contract will be signed during the official visit of Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic to China scheduled to take place from September 17 to 20, Serbia's economy minister Goran Knezevic said in the press release.
Shandong Linglong has decided to build the factory in Serbia because of low investment, construction, labour and energy costs compared to other countries in Europe, the Chinese company said earlier this week.
Zrenjanin is located in Serbia's northern autonomous province of Vojvodina, near the railway line linking Belgrade to Budapest. The Serbian government carries out a major overhaul of the railway line with Chinese funding, in order to allow the high-speed circulation of trains along the route.
($ = 0.86474 euro)