Constant Interest for the New Széchenyi Plan - the Second Stage of the National Tour in the Southern Great Plain2011. február 3.
The national tour launched by the Ministry of National Development to introduce the New Széchenyi Plan arrived to Békéscsaba. After the Bács-Kiskun county event the road show had its second stage in the Southern Great Plain.
At the event with more than 200 participants, experts of the National Development Agency introduced the possibilities the new system of tendering offers.
The opening speech was given by Tamás Hódsági, President of the Bács-Kiskun County Chamber of Commerce and Industry. After him Zoltán Farkas, President of the General Assembly of Békés County expressed his gratitude for the great interest for the event and his hope that the New Széchenyi Plan (ÚSZT) would at last open possibilities also for Békés county.
Zoltán Petykó, President of the National Development Agency (NFÜ) thanked the opportunity for consultation, the aim of the which was to learn about the opinion of the locals and to integrate it in the calls for tenders. He highlighted that economic growth would be launched by the ÚSZT and the main areas would be the production and technology sectors. He affirmed that there was strong intention to preserve jobs, strengthen SMEs and fight corruption. Talking about actual tender opportunities, as a summary he said that in the first round of the ÚSZT 16 constructions schemes were opened on 17 January in a total of HUF 597.5 billion. In the second round, starting from 1 March, 78 constructions schemes will open for tenders in a total of HUF 509.8 billion.
Ignác Siba, Head Director General of the Controlling Managing Authority of the Economic Development Operative Operational Programme (GOP) introduced the combined microcredit product, and emphasized the importance and significance of repayable grants in the grant system. An important goal is to reach areas that were not covered before: settlements with a population of less than 5000, where micro and small enterprises can request loans with less strict conditions for their developments.
The schemes of the Social Renewal Operational Programme (TÁMOP) were covered by Dániel Bene, CEO of ESZA Nonprofit Kft. He indicated that organizational changes of the institution (health care and education were transferred to ESZA) offer a possibility for a better realization of the common goals. He emphasized that among others the value of the ÚSZT is shown by the fact that it identifies actual branches and defines breakout points that set the way forward. The CEO introduced five TÁMOP tenders to the participants regarding business development, employment, and science and innovation.
Tender results for the region were covered by Sándor Szoboszlai, Deputy Department Head of the Controlling Managing Authority of the Regional Operational Programmes (ROP). He explained that the budget for the Southern Great Plain Region for the 2011–-2013 period was HUF 60 billion. From this budget HUF 34 billion is dedicated for economic and tourism development. Expected support intensity for SMEs is 70%. Tenders of the Regional Operationalve Programme are expected to open in three rounds: on 1 March, in April and in the middle of June.
Dr Anikó Szilvia Nagy, deputy department head talked about the changes in the tendering system. She said that the disconnected and overcomplicated system of tendering was replaced by a single and streamlined process after parallel structures were terminated eliminated and the system was accelerated. The project form is 8–10 pages long instead of the former 30 pages, and the number of obligatory declarations has also been reduced. Tenders have to be submitted electronically, and two-round tenders are terminated. Payment deadline was reduced from 60 days to 45 days.
Contributing partners of the national tour are the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the National Association of Entrepreneurs.