Credit: MECO
On Thursday 27 October 2022, Luxembourg's Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot, and the Minister for Spatial Planning, Claude Turmes, presented to the representatives of intermunicipal unions the methods for the future development of the regional economic activity zones for which they are responsible.
During the event, several instruments were presented aimed at improving the attractiveness of economic activity zones as well as their acceptance by municipalities and residents.
To this end, specifications which detail concrete measures around the main themes of water management, mobility, energy, materials, production processes and the sharing economy have been presented. The methodology developed in these specifications is based on the principle of circular co-creation aimed at involving the various companies, ministries, administrations and municipalities concerned at an early stage in the planning. This is a paradigm shift for the planning and management of economic activity zones, in particular through the establishment of infrastructure and shared services. It also involves reducing the environmental impacts of future areas, better integrating them into the landscape and the existing urban or rural fabric and using the available surfaces in the most optimal way.
Minister Turmes, responsible for monitoring the sectoral master plan "Economic activity zones" (PSZAE), specified during his speech that sustainable territorial development requires good planning of the use of land and natural resources at the level of the territory. It is a question of combining economic development and environmental preservation during the implementation of economic activity zones. He presented the new guide "Leitfaden für die nachhaltige Gestaltung von Aktivitätszonen" intended to help the planners of economic activity zones as well as the municipalities to integrate the measures proposed by the specifications into the municipal planning instruments that are the general development plan (PAG), the master plan, the particular development plan (PAP), the building regulations or even the conventions and contracts concluded with companies located in an economic activity zone.
The new guide is available online via: https://amenagement-territoire.public.lu/fr.html.
During his speech, Minister Fayot underlined the importance of the implementation of the areas reserved by the sectoral master plan "economic activity zones" (PSZAE). It notes that only 25 ha of serviced areas are currently still available in the regional areas and that it is all the more urgent to acquire, plan and service a maximum of the areas provided for by the PSZAE (350 ha gross) for regional economic activity zones.
Presentation of the bill concerning the development of economic activity zones
A bill concerning the development of economic activity zones and regulating the terms of admission and provision of land in these zones is currently in the legislative process. Minister Fayot thus exposed the main axes of this bill which aims to harmonise the procedures for requesting the establishment of companies as well as the conditions for making land available to companies within the various types of economic activity zones (national, regional and municipal). It also defines the competences concerning the planning, implementation and management of economic activity zones. The new legislation to come contributes in particular to a better diversification of the national economy of economic activities.
