Petrica Usurelu, owner of flooring products and construction supplies distributor Piritex in Prahova, a company with 80 million-euro turnover in 2008, last year partnered with Belgian group Alinso, which specialises in the development of logistics projects, and says the next six years will see 750 million euros invested in building the Ploiesti West Park.
"I was the promoter of this joint venture, and the idea for building an industrial park in Ploiesti came to me when I moved Piritex's operations to Parcul Industrial Ploiesti (Ploiesti Industrial Park), which is an extremely successful project, and is entirely rented out. It took us a year to acquire the 220-ha plot, with the project to extend over 6-7 years," said Usurelu, who holds 20% in Ploiesti West Park, with the remaining 80% owned by the Alinso Group.
Alinso is part of Belgian industrial group Domo Group, with 933 million euros in annual turnover, which Piritex has been working with for the supply of heated flooring since 1995. "The Domo group has been doing business with Piritex for over 10 years, and we decided to seal this partnership because we were looking for the appropriate location for a sizeable industrial park in Eastern Europe. The Prahova-Ploiesti area has petroleum refineries, and the project will be focused on companies in the petroleum, gas and extraction industry," says Ivan Lokere, CEO of the Alinso Group.
The industrial park is being built close to the city of Ploiesti, in Aricestii Rahtivani commune, will cover 220 hectares and spur the creation of around 16,000 jobs, according to the developers. Ploiesti Business Park will consist of two major areas, a business park, dedicated mainly to logistics operations, as well as of restaurants, hotels, offices, a research park and a retail area.
The construction of the first building in the logistics park started in late June, and is set for completion in early October.
So far the investment in acquiring the land and in beginning the first stage of the project has amounted to around 12 million euros, in the form of shareholder contribution to the company's share capital. For the rest of the project, the shareholders will seek to access funds from banks and from Alinso's investment partners.
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