Austrian construction company Bau Holding is likely to construct the cement factory, originally planned to be located in Hungary, in some of the country’s neighbouring countries.
The company regards Slovakia as one of the possible locations for its investment project. Initially, Bau Holding wished to construct the HUF27bn Hungarian forints (US$133m) factory in the village of Bukkosd, southern Hungary. However, the village residents, being afraid of environmental damages, voted against the construction project in a referendum held on July 11, 2004. The factory was to open 100 jobs and pay annual taxes of HUF100m (US$493,000) to Bukkosd. At present, the village has an annual budget of HUF20m (US$98,000).
The project suspension will negatively affect Hungarian construction company Strabag Rt, a subsidiary of Bau Holding. The company has decided to launch an investigation aimed to determine, whether the opening of a referendum is legal, when the investor wishes to construct a factory on its own plot of land.
