The construction of the Valalika industrial parks near Košice and Rimavská Sobota was managed in a non-transparent and non-conceptual manner. Slovakia faces financial damages in the amount of 36 million euros for failure to meet the deadlines. This follows from the inspection of the Supreme Audit Office (SAO), which was reported on Friday by its spokeswoman Daniela Bolech Dobáková.

"In the case of the construction of both parks, the state's commercial companies, MH Invest and Valaliky Industrial Park, as well as the Ministry of the Economy (MH) of the Slovak Republic failed, which insufficiently fulfilled its control tasks as their founder," said the SAO, adding that it recommends to the parliamentary economic committee more intensive public control by requesting regular annual reports on realized expenses and the fulfillment of goals.

"For non-compliance with contractual deadlines, we are talking about possible sanctions of up to 36 million euros or even the possibility of investors withdrawing from the contract," pointed out the vice-president of the SAO, Jaroslav Ivančo. He added that systematic public and parliamentary pressure on the executive branches of management and compliance with the state's obligations is necessary to avoid potential damage.

According to the vice president of the SAO, the project schedule was built unrealistically, it did not take into account national legislation and the time-consuming processes of construction and permitting procedures, property rights settlement of land or public procurement.

According to the SAO, no documents, analyzes or studies were submitted to the control group, which were used as basis for concluding investment contracts. According to the inspectors, the contracts with the companies located in the parks show signs of one-sided advantage. Only commercial companies of the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic are threatened with contractual fines, investors are not threatened with any sanctions for non-fulfillment of contractual terms.

"In 2021 and 2022, the Supervisory Boards, in which there are representatives of the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic, did not meet in accordance with the charter and did not submit a single report on their activities to the Ministry of Economy during the audited period," the SAO pointed out. The services of an external company were also used, while the inspectors found non-compliance with contractual terms and violations of financial discipline according to the Act on Budgetary Rules of Public Administration in the amount of more than 230,000 euros.

According to the SAO, the fact that Slovakia still does not have a comprehensive concept for their development is responsible for the shortcomings in the construction of industrial parks. "The absence of a concept is a serious shortcoming and reduces Slovakia's investment attractiveness and competitiveness from the point of view of foreign investors," concluded Ivančo.