Plans for constructing a gigafactory for the production of batteries for electric cars worth €7.9 billion by a foreign investor – whose name is being withheld – in the Karviná region were disclosed by the Czech government on Thursday.

The project is expected to create new jobs, contribute to energy security and increase the Czech Republic’s competitiveness, Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS/ECR) said after Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.

He declined to give further details of the investment, saying that the agreement with the investor did not allow him to disclose the company’s name.

Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela (STAN/EPP), however, stressed that the company is a large one from a democratic country with which the Czech Republic has a long history of good relations.

According to the website iRozhlas.cz, the mayors of the surrounding municipalities are sceptical about the project. The mayor of Dolní Lutyně, Pavel Buzek (STAN/EPP), said he was aware that his municipality was being considered as a site for a strategic factory, but he had no further information on the matter.

“It will certainly divide the village; some will be for it, and some will be against it. (…) We know something is in the pipeline, but we don’t know what. If the government approves it, at least we will know where we stand,” Buzek said. At the same time, he acknowledges that the region needs strategic investment, without which it could be in big trouble.

The Czech government negotiated for a long time with the German company Volkswagen to build a gigafactory in another part of the Czech Republic, but in the end, no agreement was reached.

Volkswagen has already decided to build three gigafactories in Germany, Spain and Canada. At the end of last year, the company said that given the market situation, including the slower take-up of the EV market in Europe, there were no commercial reasons to decide on further sites for the time being.

(Ondřej Plevák | Euractiv.cz)

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