“We will see in the coming years companies that will go to cities that have not been as visible. For instance, we’ve got requests from our clients for an office building in Craiova,” Ovidiu Sandor says.
“We will not do it because the more attractive markets at the moment are Timisoara and Cluj. Craiova is not mature enough for a bigger project. But such requests show there is interest from companies and Craiova is well positioned in the auto industry and will develop in the future.”
He believes western Romania has developed a lot in the past few years precisely because the highways were west of Romania and not in the country.
“(…) Western Romania was chosen because of the lack of good roads to other regions of the country. Had we had highways, component manufacturers would have gone to Moldavia from the beginning because there is a greater and cheaper workforce there. The effects of the new highway will be in effect in Sibiu and Brasov and so on.”
Office space accounts for only 10% of the costs of a company and the decisive factors are the human resources and the employee costs, which is why Bucharest is now seeing increased competition from other cities in the country.
“Secondary cities have become a competitor of Bucharest in the last few years because many companies are already there and trying to expand to other cities. They see a lot of talent or lower costs in secondary cities. Secondary cities have advanced engineering or IT activities, so one no longer needs to come to Bucharest to find experienced people. Even cities like Brasov, Sibiu, Oradea, Tg. Mures and Craiova are becoming attractive, because human resources in the big cities are expensive and harder to find.”
Ovidiu Sandor says the government in Bucharest must encourage workforce mobility in the country through relocation bonuses and public-private partnerships.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)