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Investors establishing at Vilnius City Innovation Industrial Park will not be subject to the infrastructure development charge
In January 2021, the new Law on Municipal Infrastructure Development came into force, as well as the infrastructure development fee rates approved by the Vilnius City Municipal Council, which apply to developers of new buildings from the beginning of this year.
“The fact that this infrastructure charge will not be applied to investors planning to establish in the territory of Vilnius City Innovation Industrial Park is very good news and another incentive for innovative companies that are preparing for development and want to implement it in Vilnius, to establish at VCIIP, because when comparing with other territories, VCIIP is becoming even more attractive in financial terms,” says dr. Gediminas Pauliukevičius, CEO of Northtown Vilnius, operator of VCIIP.
The exception that the infrastructure development charge is not paid when a construction permit is issued for the construction or reconstruction of buildings of state importance or in the territory of a project of state importance, the boundaries of which are established by the Government, is provided by Article 15 of the Law on Municipal Infrastructure Development, while VCIIP was granted the status of national importance economic project in 2015.
The tariffs for the infrastructure development charge approved by Vilnius City Municipal Council in December 2020 envisage that EUR 30 per sq.m. will be paid in priority areas of Vilnius city, EUR 50 per sq.m. in non-priority areas, conversion projects in a part of the city, regardless of the priority of the territory – 18 Eur per sq. m. and for the construction of one-apartment houses – 15 Eur / sq. m. m.
“The new law allows municipalities to take a more systematic approach to infrastructure development and create transparent conditions for developers to contribute to the development of the necessary infrastructure – from streets or engineering networks to social infrastructure,” says Anton Nikitin, Vilnius City Municipality Chief Engineer. He adds that VCIIP falls into the priority area – here, as in most priority areas, the level of infrastructure development is already high.
According to A. Nikitin, practically all European cities have financial tools for development management, and their charges are significantly higher than the ones set in Vilnius. “The fact that the law provides exceptions forsuch territories as VCIIP, when investors established here are generally exempted from the infrastructure development charge – increases the attractiveness of the park territory for both Lithuanian and foreign companies planning development,” says the chief engineer of Vilnius City Municipality.