The New Széchenyi Plan was Introduced in Vas County2011. január 28.
The national tour launched by the Ministry of National Development arrived to Szombathely. At yesterday's event experts of the National Development Agency introduced the possibilities the new system of tendering offers.
In his welcome speech Mayor Dr Tivadar Puskás expressed his content that Szombathely was among the first stages of the New Széchenyi Plan's national tour. The mayor asked participants to contribute, as they could, to the government's efforts to create one million new jobs in 10 years.
After the mayor's welcome speech Zoltán Petykó, President of the National Development Agency (NFÜ) told the participants that the event was held because NFÜ was interested in the opinion of the enterprises of Szombathely, in order to be able to devise calls for tenders that met existing requirements, as the aim was to efficiently spend the sources that beneficiaries received. Talking about the fact that the government fully transferred the coordination of sources available to Hungary to the Ministry of National Development, he said the goal was to rationalize the institution system of the development policy. Zoltán Petykó introduced the strategic goals behind the New Széchenyi Plan. He highlighted that economic growth would be launched by the New Széchenyi Plan, and the main areas would be the production and technology sectors.
Ignác Siba, Director General of the Managing Authority of the Economic Development Operational Programme (GOP) said that GOP tenders were connected to the three main pillars of the ÚSZT: employment, growth, development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Available sources for economic development amount to more than HUF 200 billion, and more than half of this is open for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. SMEs are prioritized as they are helped with plus points and a higher support ratio. Combined microcredit helps the smallest enterprises. Ignác Siba continued with the introduction of the financial instruments of the ÚSZT, and talked about the renewal of the intermediate body, MAG Zrt that is shown in the setup of the project partner system, the simplified procedures, and the acceleration of payments.
Dr Tamás Palicz, Director General of the Managing Authority of the Human Resource Programmes (HEP) indicated that changes concerning intermediate bodies were also implemented in this area. Healthcare and education were transferred to ESZA Nonprofit Kft to provide integrated customer liaising and through this ensure better services to tenderers. He explained that in the field of employment HUF 65 billion would be available in the framework of a primary project. HUF 10.1 billion is available for the support of on-the-job trainings; the budget for integrated development of higher education is HUF 5.6 billion.
Zsolt Benedek, Deputy Department Head of the Managing Authority of the Regional Operational Programmes (ROP) said that three tender packages could be expected in 2011: of the SME related developments tenders that supported clusters and inter-company cooperation would be launched on 1 March, the budget for the Northern Transdanubia Region was HUF 600 billion. Besides this, schemes to support the development of tourism and health rehabilitation services will also be launched. In the area of transportation development, bicycle route network expansion and road development tenders were opened. In the field of primary health care and out-patient services tenders are expected to be launched in the autumn. The tender budget of the region for 2011–2013 is HUF 38 billion; sources of HUF 10 billion are dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Contributing partners of the national tour are the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the National Association of Entrepreneurs.