Enormous Interest Shown for New Széchenyi Plan's Tender Opportunities in Komárom-Esztergom County2011. február 11.
The New Széchenyi Plan's national tour arrived in Tatabánya. At the consultation on 8 February János Bencsik, State Secretary for Climate and Energy of the Ministry of National Development and the experts of NDA introduced the opportunities.
Csaba Schmidt, Mayor of Tatabánya said in his prologue that Hungary cannot be successful unless unemployment is decreased. Unemployment must be reduced below 5%, just as it was in the time of the first Széchenyi Plan. To reach this goal allies are needed, and these have been found today: the Government and the National Development Agency (NDA) on the one side, and enterprises of Tatabánya and Komárom-Esztergom county on the other side.
Zoltán Petykó, President of NDA said the aim of the consultation was to learn the opinions of the locals and to integrate then in the calls for tenders. He emphasized that it was the New Széchenyi Plan (NSzP) that would launch economic growth. He highlighted that starting from 1 March, 78 schemes would open for tenders in a total of HUF 509.8 billion.
Speaking about the green energy development programme of the New Széchenyi Plan János Bencsik, State Secretary of the Ministry of National Development pointed out that the programme primarily offered new opportunities and created a new inner market for small and medium-sized enterprises. This is the sector that can provide a predictable basis for the fulfilment of Hungary's EU obligations regarding the increase of energy efficiency and the promotion of the use of renewable energy sources. The State Secretary encouraged enterprises to form alliances as the way forward is cooperation and not fierce competition.
Ignác Siba, Head of the Managing Authority of Economic Development Operative Programme (EDOP) started his speech with the importance of the creation of jobs. After this he said that at present there were 700,000 active enterprises in Hungary, some 650,000 being micro and small enterprises. If microenterprises win at the tenders and create an average of one job, Hungary's employment can rise by 500,000.
The following speaker was Judit Farkas, Deputy EU Programme Director of ESZA Nonprofit Kft, who introduced five new SROP tenders that are connected to business development, employment, and science and innovation.
Zsolt Benedek, Deputy Head of Department of the Managing Authority for Regional Operational Programmes (ROP) said that the budget of the Central Transdanubia Operational Programme for the period 2011-2013 was HUF 38 billion. From this budget tenders are opening for HUF 16 billion on 11 February. From the total budget of HUF 38 billion calls for tenders for SMEs in the field of tourism and economic development amount to HUF 13.5 billion.
Dr. Anikó Szilvia Nagy, deputy head of department said that the present overcomplicated system of tendering was replaced by a streamlined process after parallel structures were terminated and the system was accelerated.
Contributing partners of the national tour are the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the National Association of Entrepreneurs.