Thousands of new jobs.
That is the potential outcome of the planned industrial park near Rødbyhavn, according to Lolland Mayor Marie-Louise Brehm Nielsen, who made the statement on Wednesday when it was finally confirmed that Lolland will host one of Denmark’s 11 new state-designated industrial parks.
But the basis for the expectation of thousands of jobs is less clear. Lolland Municipality has made estimates based on Lindø Industrial Park, the offshore industry around Esbjerg and the industrial areas near Nakskov Port. The underlying calculation, however, has not been published.
- Ultimately, the number of jobs will of course depend on which companies choose to establish themselves in the industrial park, Lolland Municipality says in a written response to FemernBusiness.
The municipality says the estimates are based on the types of industries for which a location with access to a port, motorway and large production sites could be relevant.
Key figures are missing
The industrial park is intended to attract large manufacturing companies requiring access to a port, motorway and extensive industrial land. Initially, the northern part of the site has been designated by the state. The southern section, where the Fehmarn project’s tunnel element factory and construction harbour are located, is expected to follow once there is clarity about the future of those facilities.
At the same time, the municipality stresses that industrial parks of this type are new in Denmark.
- Industrial parks of this kind are new in a Danish context, so it is difficult to point to areas that are obviously comparable. As part of the development work, we have among other things looked at Lindø Industrial Park and the development of the offshore industry around Esbjerg, the municipality writes.
The municipality has also looked at the tunnel element factory near Rødbyhavn and the industrial areas around Nakskov Port. It has previously been estimated that around 2,000 jobs depend on the port and the associated business area.
The municipality cannot say how many jobs would be direct and permanent within the park itself, and how many would be temporary or indirect.
- There are ongoing discussions with potential companies. We cannot say anything specific about the content of those talks or how many jobs could be involved in each case, the municipality writes.
The project is a long-term development plan, and the municipality expects a full build-out to take many years.
Experience from Maribo Business Park also provides no precise basis for comparison. In response to questions from FemernBusiness, the municipality estimates that the park contains around 200 jobs, but the figure has not been broken down further.
The municipality does not state how many of those jobs are newly created and how many have simply been relocated to the park from other addresses within the municipality.
