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The location database standortooe.at, which has already existed for several years, has been given a new lease of life in recent months. This was announced by Vice President Markus Achleitner and President of the Chamber of Commerce Doris Hummer on Monday. The range of eleven broker portals is now also visible on the portal: “While around 800 entries could currently be found, at the start of the relaunch there were already around 1,200,” said Hummer. Important data about the objects was added: the surrounding infrastructure, information on the population structure, traffic or tourism.
This location analysis is intended to make it easier to find the right location to start or expand a business. “Interested parties receive a comprehensive picture; it is also important to know the data on the neighboring property,” said Werner Pamminger, managing director of the location agency Business Upper Austria. Both municipalities, companies and private individuals can advertise areas and commercial properties on the platform.
- Read here: This is how our land is used
The ultimate goal is to give preference to vacant properties and brownfield sites to companies. “But it will still be necessary to rededicate operational areas,” said State Councilor Achleitner, responsible for economics and spatial planning. To ensure that there is no “competition for local taxes” among the municipalities, cooperation communities (INKOBAs) should be formed. Currently, 290 of the 438 municipalities participate in at least one such community, and the municipal taxes of the companies are divided among the municipalities.
If a closed business premises is taken over or the closure is prevented, there is a sustainability bonus in the “Start-up bonus for the Upper Austrian economy” – a model that is unique in Germany, as Achleitner said. This year, a survey of fallow industrial and commercial land in Upper Austria will be carried out for the third time; in 2021, 279 fallow areas covering 110 hectares were identified.
“We use the soil very sparingly; protecting the soil and enabling the future are not contradictory,” emphasized Achleitner. As reported, Upper Austria was repeatedly criticized last year for its high land consumption, and there has not yet been an agreement on a nationwide land strategy.
More on the subject:
- Soil protection in Upper Austria: dispute over the 2.5 hectare target
- World Soil Day: How can we curb soil consumption?
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