4.29 Stara Zagora 2023, Инвестиционен анализ
Оценки
3.67 | selected indicators on municipal council, mayor and municipal administration, police structure and court relating to the economic activity |
3.29 | selected indicators on civil society structures (media, civil organizations, business and political parties) relating to the economic activity |
4.75 | structured information for business regarding rules for economic activity and administrative service |
4.75 | encouragement of innovative start-ups and enabling conditions for start-up businesses |
5.00 | created conditions for attracting investments |
Local authorities have created very favourable conditions for promoting business development and attracting investments. The municipal administration and the mayor make a significant contribution to this. The local administration has the necessary resources to perform its functions – it provides a wide range of complex administrative services, electronically provided services, and the mayor’s team implements a policy to develop its expert capacity. The municipal administration maintains a website that provides adequate access to the existing registers, to the documents that are subject to public discussion and to the rules for carrying out economic activity. A specialised page “Investments” has been created, which provides specialised information and services for businesses and maintains information on the specialised website Invest Stara Zagora (https://invest.starazagora.bg). The “Zagore” Industrial Zone was established on the territory of the municipality.
The mayor implements a policy of securing additional resources through projects and by creating conditions for attracting investments. The local executive, in the person of the mayor and his team, maintain a dialogue with citizens and businesses, including in the discussion of strategies and policies for the development of the municipality. In addition, there are assessments that greater clarity is needed regarding the opportunities for equal participation of companies in the consultative process when making decisions for the development of the local economy and when amending regulations on economic activity. Deficits are found in the implementation of control activities – the research registers business perceptions of the application of an unequal approach when carrying out checks against individual companies.
The municipal council has adopted a number of ordinances regarding economic activity in the municipality. Rules have been established regarding the consultative process with business and civil organisations. At the end of the mandate of the Municipal Council, critical assessments were registered regarding the substantive side of the consultation process, which point to a certain passivity and formalities in the dialogue with the interested parties. The municipal council strives to exercise control over the local executive power, with some of the municipal councillors making a more substantial contribution. In 2023, measures were taken to increase transparency and accountability regarding the work of the council and its committees.
The municipality maintains a website that presents well-structured business information. A link to the Invest Stara Zagora investment site has been created on the main page; a link has been created that leads to the section “Economic activities, economic policy and sports policy”, where information about the units in the municipality, application forms, information about tenders, rents, markets, advertising, registers, information about agriculture is published. Along with this information, in the section “Economic activities, economic policy and sports policy”, a bar on the right contains references to other important topics and services: provided administrative services and certificates, including CAF (Introduction of a common assessment framework in the Bulgarian administration). The subsection “Characteristics of Stara Zagora” contains information that is useful for business: “Location”, “Access to infrastructure”, “Natural features”. The specialised site for investments and for start-up businesses is in English, and the information in it is clearly structured and well visualised in sections: “Why Stara Zagora” (with data on business conditions and characteristics of the area), “Set up your business” ; information is provided in sections “Investment support” (incentives and reliefs for investors), “Industrial zones”, “Tax incentives”, “Investment incentives”. The information in the subsection “Industrial Zones” includes information about investors in the area. Team contact information is posted; direct access to the Investment Promotion Ordinance, which was amended in 2022, is provided.
The local business has very good conditions for its activity, including for starting new business initiatives. The municipal council has created an ordinance promoting investments, adequate access to information about the administrative services provided and to the registers is ensured; specialised municipal structures were created, involved in the investment process and interaction with business; an industrial zone “Zagore” was created, where new business initiatives can be developed. The region of Stara Zagora is one of the three regions in the country that are included in the National Plan for Recovery and Sustainability and will receive priority funding for the transition to green economy technologies. In this context, it should be noted that some of the local companies actively participate in dialogue with the local authorities and actively defend their proposals and opinions. The research registers critical assessments from the business side regarding the application of an unequal approach when performing the control activity.
At the local level, there is a wide range of civil organisations, initiative committees, active citizens and media, which make a significant contribution to the implementation of public control over local government institutions.