The project envisions the development of up to 424 hectares of land near the future “Rail Baltica” terminal and intermodal logistics hub, creating a new generation industrial, logistics, defense, and innovation area.
“Today Panevėžys has the opportunity to become a place where strategic infrastructure, industry, technology, and international investments meet. ‘Rail Baltica’ opens a completely new stage for the region – the opportunity to be an important part of the Baltic and Northern Europe economic map. It is very important that we see this project as a long-term direction that strengthens the competitiveness of the entire region, creates high value-added jobs, and opens more opportunities for people to build their future in Panevėžys and the Panevėžys region,” says Panevėžys city deputy mayor Rytis Račkauskas.
Panevėžys began forming the idea of developing a new free economic zone five years ago, assessing the opportunities created by the future “Rail Baltica” infrastructure for the region. An important step was taken in 2023 when the Panevėžys city and Panevėžys district municipalities signed a cooperation agreement for the development of a joint investment area.
The municipalities, aiming to improve the investment environment of Panevėžys city and district, strengthen the region’s investment attractiveness, and create more favorable conditions for attracting investments and creating new jobs, agreed to cooperate in planning the development of the area near the future “Rail Baltica” infrastructure hub.
During the presentation, it was emphasized that the future area is being developed in a strategically important location – near the future “Rail Baltica” terminal and intermodal logistics hub. The study notes that this infrastructure could become one of the most important competitive advantages of the Panevėžys region on a Baltic and European scale.
The project is focused on long-term development over more than 30 years in stages. One of the most important directions of the project is to create opportunities for investors to settle in large, business expansion-ready areas that meet the needs of modern manufacturing and logistics companies.
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Presented economic project calculations
The presented economic calculations show significant project potential both for the Panevėžys region and the state.
It is estimated that:
- up to 7,000 new jobs could be created in the FEZ area;
- private investments could reach about 3 billion euros over the entire FEZ operation period;
- the economic value created for local suppliers could exceed 22 billion euros;
- state and municipal budgets could receive about 1.7 billion euros in revenue from personal income and profit taxes.
The study also notes that the benefits of such an area are created not only within the FEZ itself – as companies grow, jobs and orders increase for local businesses and the service sector. One job in a FEZ company on average creates one additional job in the supply chain.
The presented project also highlights the new generation FEZ concept – the area is oriented not only towards traditional manufacturing but also towards high value-added sectors, the defense industry, technology development, and sustainable infrastructure solutions.
The experts who prepared the project noted that the industrial transformation taking place in Europe, the growth of the defense sector, and the restructuring of supply chains create new opportunities for regions that can offer strategically located and investment-ready areas.
Currently, the project is being coordinated with the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, and in the near future, coordination with other national institutions is planned to ensure consistent development of the Panevėžys region FEZ project.
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