Skoda Auto growth forces Czech government to increase investments around Kvasiny industrial zone

The Ministry of Transportation Karel Havlicek has approved adding CZK 2.5 billion to the budget for expanding the industrial zone in Kvasiny. The expansion is needed in order to enable the zone to continue enabling the rapid growth of Skoda Auto. Havlicek admitted that work on the zone was supposed to be completed this year, but that it had become clear that new investments in transport infrastructure around the zone would also be needed. As a result, work is expected to continue for another three years, with most of the new money to be spent on building bypasses around smaller towns that lie along the main roads leading to Kvasiny. Nearly 12,500 people work in the Kvasiny industrial zone, more than eight times as many people as live in the village the zone is named after. The new budget for transportation-related investments is now CZK 5.9 billion.