The EDC Debrecen City and Economic Development Center and the Debrecen Infrastructure Development Ltd. regularly summarise the infrastructure of the North-West Economic Zone, which is home to the BMW factory in Debrecen and its future suppliers, in a video. In their newly published video, they report on the work carried out in the third and fourth quarter of 2023.

Link to video:https://youtu.be/OML634MiRS8

The most important development was the four-lane Main Road 33 between the industrial zone and the border of Debrecen.As stated in the video, Main Road 33 was brought over the railway on a new 2-by-2 lane bridge. As part of the development of Main Road 33, the pavements of Napraforgó, Zöldmező and Orgona Street in Kismacs were renovated in the affected areas. Several kilometres of bicycle paths were built next to the road, and a noise protection wall was built next to Kismacs. The entire development was handed over in November, while the four-lane construction of Main Road 33 continues between the industrial zone and the road leading to Balmazújváros, and a roundabout is also being built at the end point, at Látóképi Tavern. In the last quarter, the earthwork, curb construction and asphalting of the roundabout were also completed.

The technical handover of this section is expected at the end of the first quarter of 2024, thus completing the planned expansion of Main Road 33.

In the second half of 2023, the construction of Bajor Road also progressed according to the schedule, a bridge will also be built there, and there will be a bicycle path next to it, which will ensure a safe bicycle connection between the Józsa district and the industrial park. Bajor Road surrounding the North-West Economic Zone, branches off from BMW boulevard to the north.

In the meantime, the BMW factory is also being built at a rapid pace, and construction work did not stop even in the winter. Larger buildings are already ready for the installation of equipment. ‘More than 3,000 people are already working on the construction of the factory, a new service centre will be delivered after the training centre, and within a year the first car will roll off the production line in Debrecen,’ Johannes Trauth, Vice President of BMW Group Factory Debrecen told Index.

‘50-100 new employees are added to the workforce in Debrecen every month,’he  indicated.

In Debrecen, the BMW Group is building a full-fledged car factory with a press plant, a bodywork building department, a painting workshop and an assembly hall, as well as a unique battery assembly plant that enables the in-house assembly of the battery cells required for electric drive. The plant, which covers an area of more than 400 hectares in the North-Western region of Debrecen, is the first unit of the company group that was developed entirely along the iFACTORY concept from the first phase of planning, in the spirit of efficient, environmentally friendly and digitised production.

According to the plans, BMW Group Gyár Debrecen will start production in 2025, with more than 1,500 employees, and at the same time, the first model of the Neue Klasse with a purely electric drive will roll off the production line in Debrecen.

Source: Dehir

The post Main road 33 will be four lanes up to the Látóképi Csárda by spring appeared first on Debrecen4u.

More than four thousand metres of cable are laid out to create the network. Electric charging stations are also installed and continuously tested. In the first round, there will be 10 such units where 20 vehicles can be charged at the same time.

In order to be the first in Debrecen to be able to pay with the most modern SimplePay system at all levels this garage  – this also applies to the parking system and chargers – we need to ensure a complete IT network and full WiFi coverage,’ said István Nyikos, the managing director of DV Parking Ltd.

The goal is to create a convenient and customer-friendly system. In addition to the traditional parking metres, the first in the city, a fast and modern system is also being introduced.

‘When customers arrive at the underground car park, by using   the ticket issuing button at the future entrance unit, they will get a parking ticket. This parking ticket contains all kinds of parking information, and what is very important, it will have a QR code that can be read at the end of parking, ‘ Zsolt Sárkány, parking operations engineer pointed out.

The construction of the parking technology and IT system costs almost 100 million HUF This includes the installation of a surveillance camera system. The development of the network is expected to be completed by the second half of January.

Source: Dehir.hu

The post A unique parking technology system is being built in the Sas Street underground garage in Debrecen appeared first on Debrecen4u.

Johannes Trauth, vice president of BMW Group Factory Debrecen, told Index that more than 3,000 people had  already been working on the construction of the factory, a new service centre would be delivered after the training centre, and within a year the first car would roll off the production line in Debrecen. Johannes Trauth indicated that 50-100 new employees were added to the workforce in Debrecen every month.

In Debrecen, the BMW Group is building a full-fledged car factory with a press plant, a bodywork  building department, a polishing workshop and an assembly hall, as well as a unique battery assembly plant that enables the in-house assembly of the battery cells required for electric drive. The plant, which covers an area of more than 400 hectares in the northwestern region of Debrecen, is the first unit of the company group that has been developed entirely along the iFACTORY concept from the first phase of planning, in the spirit of efficient, environmentally friendly and digitised production.

The first trial production will take place as early as September 2024.

The continuously updated list of currently open positions and the application interface are available at https://www.bmwgroup.jobs/hu/hu.html.

Source: Dehir.hu

The post Construction of BMW Group Plant Debrecen continues even in winter appeared first on Debrecen4u.

The 18-metre-long, four-door Mercedes Conecto G buses put into service on Thursday can transport 154 passengers, including those with reduced mobility.

The modern vehicles equipped with air-conditioning, WiFi and an external-internal passenger information system are powered by a EURO6 diesel engine, so they emit almost 24% less pollutants than old Volvos.

At the handover of the ten new buses, László Papp emphasised that the past period was not easy from the point of view of public transport, despite this, such and similar developments can be realised at the transport company without ticket and pass prices increasing since the 1st of January.

‘We will have several very important announcements regarding public transport this year,’ the Mayor said.

The modernization of the fleet began two years ago, in January 2022. Since then, a total of 79 vehicles have been replaced and the stock has been expanded with 12 electric buses. In addition to the buses that have just been handed over, thirty new Mercedes-Benz Conecto vehicles will arrive at DKV this year. Thus, the update program started in 2022 can come to an end, as a result of which all 131 vehicles in the stock will be replaced by more modern and sustainable prototypes.

‘These vehicles serve nearly 700,000 trips per year, so in Debrecen’s bus traffic, this means on average 1,920 trips on a daily basis, on weekdays this means 2,200 trips. It is very important that these vehicles are technically reliable, ‘ Szabolcs Tóth, the CEO of DKV Ltd. emphasised.

The new buses were put into service on Thursday afternoon, and the old Volvo buses are gradually being phased out of public transport.  DKV Ltd. had a total of 76 million passengers in 2022, and 77 million last year. This means that the company reached 90% of the number of passengers in the base year of 2019.

Source : Dehir.hu

The post New Mercedes Buses Were Put into Service in Debrecen appeared first on Debrecen4u.

Previously, Wizz Air would restart all three of its summer flights in the summer, but now one of the flights has been significantly extended, will be restarted much earlier and will operate longer.

The flight in question is to Burgas, where, according to the original plans, the planes would have travelled from May to October 5, but can now be booked on Wizz Air from 1st April until 25th October with two departures per week.

Burgas, on the Black Sea coast, is a popular holiday destination, and in previous years, charter flights were available for people from Debrecen, with Wizz Air launching its first seasonal flight last year.

The Corfu service will operate from mid-June to the end of September, and the Turkish service from early April to the end of October.

From Debrecen airport, Wizz Air currently flies to London, Eindhoven, Larnaca in Cyprus (which has not been a holiday destination for some time but operates all year round) and Egypt (the latter is a seasonal flight, operating until spring), while Lufthansa flies to Munich. In mid-December, Wizz Air will launch a flight to Rome, for which the airline says there is strong demand.

The flight to Tel Aviv, Israel, was suspended by Wizz Air after the terrorist attack on Israel, and will certainly not be flying from Debrecen this year. They are currently planning and hoping to re-launch the flight in January, which is also important for tourism.

Wizz Air’s communications manager said they are monitoring the situation. They have not given up on it because it was very successful, and they want to restart it, but of course, the safety of passengers and staff is the most important thing.

Source: dehir.hu |Photo credit: Facebook (Papp László)

The post Wizz Air will re-launch one of its holiday flights earlier in the spring and will end later in autumn appeared first on Debrecen4u.

In order to achieve its environmental objectives and to protect the health of the Hungarian people, the Ministry of Energy is tightening the emission limits for industrial facilities. As part of the process, the ministry has initiated consultations with the National Environmental Council and the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and has submitted a draft decree for public consultation. The draft legislation on the tightening is now available on the government’s website, and comments were invited until 23rd of November.

Mayor of Debrecen László Papp said on his Facebook page that he supports the government’s plans. “The proposal is the right one because economic development is sustainable and effective when environmental standards are stringent, respected, and complied with. This has not been and will not be compromised. Debrecen comes first for us!” he posted. 

In a statement, the Ministry of Energy said that the government expects all investors to comply with environmental, labour and other rules applicable to their activities. The authorities constantly monitor this, and if the operation of industrial plants is not in compliance with the legal requirements or the permit, the authorities will take appropriate action to protect the environment and the Hungarian people. In line with previous practice and considering the experience of the authorities and comments from the public, the Ministry of Energy has again reviewed the emission limit values for industrial installations this year and proposes to tighten the limits.

The ministry will send the draft amendments to the regulations on air pollution level limits and emission limits for stationary sources of air pollution and on the limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds from certain activities to the National Environmental Protection Council and the Secretary General of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in addition to submitting them for public consultation.

Based on the German proposal, the proposed regulation sets the strictest limits in the European Union. This will further strengthen the protection of the health of Hungarian people and the environment.

The amended limits will apply from the 1st of January 2025 for plants already in operation and licensed before the regulation enters into force, according to a draft available on the government’s website.

Source: dehir.hu | Photo credit: DMJV

The post Mayor of Debrecen supports tightening environmental standards for factories appeared first on Debrecen4u.

He said that the Ministry of Construction and Transport is a priority for Debrecen and symbolises the cooperation that characterises the city of Debrecen and the activities of the government today. 

“This relationship is extremely important for Debrecen, as Debrecen has been a key player in the development of transport, economic development, cultural development and education in recent years,” he said.

The mayor stressed that a total of 19 developments will be launched in the coming months, either at the planning or construction stage. “Debrecen has seized the high-priority opportunities of the 21st century and, accordingly, it must find answers to the challenges of the 21st century,” he said.

He added that 16 of the 19 development elements will be implemented within the administrative boundaries of Debrecen, while the rest will affect the city.

He said that constructing the eastern bypass would be a qualitative leap for the eastern part of the city, both in terms of transport and quality of life. He recalled that the eastern part of the city has also seen a lot of transport development in recent years, such as the reconstruction of the 48 motorway and the ongoing development of the 471 motorway on Samson Road. He noted that the upgrades would define the city’s transport system for decades to come.

The city’s bypass ring road has so far been only one-way. One of the key elements of the development is to complete the ring road around Debrecen in such a way that it will be at an adequate and safe distance from Pallag, linking the eastern bypass to the 354 main roads, he explained. He added that the significance of the 20-22 km bypass is that it provides an alternative approach either to the city centre or to bypass the city to the north or south and can be clearly designated as an alternative route for freight traffic.

József Pántya, Deputy State Secretary for Roads at the Ministry of Construction and Transport, stressed that as Debrecen’s economic potential has grown in recent years, so too has attention to road infrastructure development. He said preparing the eastern bypass of Debrecen requires finding consensus on social, environmental, civil and heritage protection issues.

MP László Pósán said that the Eastern Bypass could make a major contribution to making local roads easier to use on a daily basis.

The contract for the study design of the Debrecen Eastern Bypass was signed by József Pántya, Deputy State Secretary for Road Construction at the Ministry of Construction and Transport, and György Lakits, Managing Director of Utiber Kft., the winning consortium.

Source and photo credit: debrecen.hu

The post The contract for the design of the Debrecen Eastern Bypass was signed appeared first on Debrecen4u.

According to Wizz Air, bookings for December and January are still good.

At the beginning of October, Mayor of Debrecen László Papp announced that Wizz Air would launch a new twice-weekly scheduled flight from Debrecen to Rome, the capital of Italy, starting 13th of December 2023. The flight will operate on Wednesdays and Fridays to Rome Fiumicino Airport (also known as Leonardo da Vinci International Airport), 32 kilometres southwest of Rome’s city centre.

According to Zsuzsa Trubek, Wizz Air’s communications manager, Wizz Air’s Debrecen-Rome flight promises to be a success, with strong bookings for December and January.

Italy’s capital is the third most populous city in the European Union, with 2.8 million inhabitants. The Vatican, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, is located just outside the city.

The centre of Rome is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is home to some of the most beautiful monuments of the ancient world and Christianity, such as the Colosseum, the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica, the Trevi Fountain, Villa Medici, the Circus Maximus and the Pantheon.

Wizz Air currently flies to London, Eindhoven, Larnaca in Cyprus (no longer a holiday flight for some time, but a year-round service) and Egypt from Debrecen (the latter is a seasonal flight, operating until spring), while Lufthansa flies to Munich.

The flight to Tel Aviv, Israel, was suspended by Wizz Air after the terrorist attack on Israel and will definitely not be flying from Debrecen this year. Their current plans and hopes are to re-launch the touristically significant service in January. According to Zsuzsa Trubek, they are monitoring the situation. They haven’t given up on it as it was very successful, and they would like to restart it, but of course, the most important thing is the safety of passengers and staff.

It was previously announced that they will also restart their three seasonal holiday flights from Debrecen next year so that in the summer and autumn of 2024, flights will again be available from Debrecen to Antalya in Turkey, Corfu in Greece and Burgas in Bulgaria.

Debrecen airport is expected to handle 250,000 passengers this year.

Source:  dehir.hu

The post Wizz Air’s Debrecen-Rome flight will be a success appeared first on Debrecen4u.

“We have to learn to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the geographical proximity of large international companies, the mayor said at the forum organised jointly by the Municipality of Debrecen, the EDC Economic Development Centre and the ADMA TranS4MErs at the Kölcsey Centre on Thursday. The city has a long-standing focus on supporting the development of the local SME sector, and the event, which aims to foster business relations between large and small companies, is another step in this direction.

Local investment and development will boost Debrecen’s economic strength by 2030: the city and county are expected to see a five-fold increase in output compared to ten years ago.

The shift of the centre of gravity of the domestic economy to the East is a huge opportunity for local SMEs, including as suppliers to high-tech corporations.

“Debrecen’s economic development policy can only be successful if the production chain includes an increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises from Debrecen and the region,” the mayor said. The municipality has recently started the development of the first SME park in the country, located in a large industrial environment in the Southern Economic Zone. In addition, the EDC has had a dedicated department to support the SME sector since 2015, and the city will place even greater emphasis on promoting SME development and supplier engagement in the future.

Hungary is a meeting point for large technology companies at the cutting edge of the West and the East, which can be a breakthrough point for smaller Hungarian firms, László György, Government Commissioner of the Ministry of Economic Development, said at the forum, adding that the government is also a key supporter of the development of the SME sector. Going global through these companies, or developing innovative products and services of their own, is all about adding value to the lives of the people who live here and helping to ensure that more people have jobs, a secure livelihood and a decent income, he added.

Around 150 people attended the forum, which offered informal networking opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises, in addition to a number of presentations and panel discussions. A European project involving 12 countries was also presented, providing experts and financial support for the digitalisation development of SMEs.

Source and photo credit: debrecen.hu

The post Building links between large companies and the SME sector appeared first on Debrecen4u.

SMEs in Debrecen could benefit from the economic success of big companies moving to the city. The city and EDC Debrecen (Debrecen Urban and Economic Development Center) are working in several ways to help them become more competitive. Among other things, the country’s first SME park in a large industrial environment is being built here, but the SME sector is also being supported through various organisational development and education programmes. The range is now being extended with a special suppliers’ forum, where large industrial players and local SMEs can meet face-to-face.

Deputy Mayor of Debrecen Lajos Barcsa spoke on local TV about the situation of SMEs. He recalled that in previous years, the municipality has already provided significant support to small and medium-sized enterprises, having launched the creation of an SME park in the Southern Economic Zone and educational programmes for them.

“Many people have approached us, saying that they would like to take advantage of the opportunities as a supplier of large companies coming to Debrecen,” the deputy mayor said.

There are currently around 900 small and medium-sized enterprises in the city. The deputy mayor added: he was not aware of a supplier forum similar to the one in Debrecen in the municipal sector. The Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) has a department dealing with suppliers, as the Hungarian government aims to encourage international companies to work with as many domestic suppliers as possible. Lajos Barcsa believes that there is much they can do locally to make this happen.

There are several benefits to be gained from this: one of them is the issue of jobs, as local SMEs account for 44% of employment – some 26,000 people. “So it matters how the future of these businesses develops, as a kind of economic community is being built here,” the deputy mayor said.

 Lajos Barcsa cited BMW as an example, as the company’s well-known environmental awareness is also reflected in the fact that it is considered an advantage to be local when bidding as a supplier. In the spirit of sustainability, striving for a product to make short journeys where possible is a good idea.

Some companies in Debrecen have already signed contracts with BMW.

The deputy mayor added that such contracts need a good reference but that they can usually do this.

“We have a pre-screener. We want to see if the company is really suitable to become a supplier,” Lajos Barcsa pointed out. According to our data, out of the 900 SMEs, about 100 are suitable to become suppliers of a large company. The deputy mayor stressed that they are the main recipients of the suppliers’ forum, but others are encouraged to contact EDC staff for expert advice.

The forum took place on the 16 th of November at the Kölcsey Centre.  There were round-table discussions and 10-15 minute block discussions with representatives of large companies.

Lajos Barcsa also spoke about the need to encourage SMEs to digitalise and automate, as they can save costs and “the available workforce will not be more”. There was and will be government support for this.

The deputy mayor stressed that Debrecen is one of the best vocational training centres in the country, able to react quickly to the challenges of the labour market.

The transfer of the BMW Training Centre is a good example of this, as the needs of the automotive multinationals had to be taken into account in the training.

Lajos Barcsa pointed out, adding that according to the average wage data published by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) year after year, the wage gap between wages in Budapest and Debrecen is getting smaller.

The deputy mayor also reported that the construction of the SME Park in Debrecen has started, the utilities are currently being built and the first entrepreneurs have started their own investments.

Lajos Barcsa recalled that in 2015, there were about 7,500 students in vocational training in Debrecen, but today the number is more than 12,000. Everyone who comes out of the DSZC finds a job.

Lajos Barcsa added: there may also be a temporary need for guest workers, as there are construction projects on a scale that the domestic construction industry may not be able to handle.

Source: dehir.hu

The post New companies rely primarily on local labour appeared first on Debrecen4u.