“A stumbling block for the economic development of companies in the Salzkammergut is the lack of business premises.” This sentence has been heard more and more frequently in recent years. The reasons for this statement were the lack of availability of land and the high development costs. “Thanks to INKOBA, however, this sentence is now losing its meaning,” Robert Oberfrank, district manager of the Gmunden Chamber of Commerce, is convinced.
In the meantime, two INKOBA associations have been founded in the district. Eleven municipalities work together at INKOBA Salzkammergut Nord and nine at INKOBA Inner Salzkammergut. “And the cooperation works,” says Oberfrank, pleased with the development so far. In the two municipal associations, commercial building areas for the region are being developed and companies are being settled on them. Both the costs and the income from the municipal tax are divided among the member municipalities according to the proportion of residents.
Cooperation bears fruit
“We see our task in creating the desired locations for expansions or new settlements of companies”, Horst Gaigg, Managing Director of INKOBA Salzkammergut, defines the objective. INKOBA Salzkammergut Nord has been active since 2017 and the cooperation between the eleven communities is bearing fruit.
“It wasn’t easy to meet all the requirements, but in the end we gained one of the largest operationally usable areas in all of Upper Austria,” says Oberfrank. Specifically, this means an area of 215,000 square meters (i.e. 21.5 hectares) in Feldham near Vorchdorf, of which four hectares have already been sold to companies.
St. Konrad’s mayor Herbert Schönberger (VP), chairman of INKOBA Salzkammergut Nord, is happy about seven companies that have already settled and distributed municipal taxes to the INKOBA communities.
Vorchdorf’s Mayor Johann Mitterlehner (VP) is also impressed by the INKOBA idea: “Where it makes sense, space is created for business settlements. Regions that are not suitable for this are still supported and can preserve their originality.” This would not have been possible without the broad solidarity of the Chamber of Commerce, all political forces of eleven communities and agriculture, Mitterlehner spreads roses to his comrades-in-arms.
Source: Nachrichten
