San Benedetto Po

 

There are as many as four settlement opportunities identified by the San Benedetto Po Municipality: two brownfield areas with 7,278 sqm of total gross floor area: the “Ex Lombarda Prefabbricati”, an area that has been sold, and the “Ex Infermeria Monastica”; and two greenfield areas with more than 72,000 sqm of total land area: the “P.I.P. Località Bardelle” and the “Area Produttiva Strada Romana Nord”. For all of them, the intended uses are industrial / manufacturing and tourism. 

In addition to the regeneration of the area adjoining the “Ex Infermeria Monastica”, with urbanization works that have seen the removal of existing architectural barriers, the renovation of the road pavement and the upgrading of public lighting, the municipality has carried out marketing, promotion and coordinated training activities and sharing of resources with the other Municipalities of the Oltrepò Mantovano, that adheres to the AttrACT program.

The most important effort undertaken by the municipality, in terms of streamlining, was the implementation of the telematics desk, not only for the SUAP [single contact point for productive activity], but also for the SUE [single contact point for construction activity] for a telematic management of all the building practices. In terms of tax benefits, the municipality has provided TARI exemption for investors who have settled in the "P.I.P. locality Bardelle" area.

In detail, the Municipality implements the following actions:

Semplification commitments

• Guarantees that the Action Plan presented by the company is adopted by the City Council in less than 90 days from the date the request was registered.
• Releases, upon a complete request being made, a Planning Permission in less than 60 days from the request.
• Ensures an online 'front office' service or a dedicated section in the municipality's portal where investors or potential investors can find all useful information.
• Uses and implements the 'electronic desk'.
• Simplifies payments by creating a single contact for the payment of all expenses owed to the municipality and other entities.
• Uses the SUAP [single contact point for productive activity] for proper additions to the Electronic Company File.
• Guarantees a training course for the SUAP operators.
• Participates in training programs related to the Electronic Company File.

Economic and fiscal incentives

• Declares in advance all the urban planning and construction expenses, making sur not to introduce additional expenses.
• Provides for an IMU [municipal property tax] + TASI [municipal tax on community services] tax rate of 9.9‰ in the areas identified.
• Reduces the TARI [waste disposal tax] by at least 20.1% from the current amount.
• Provides reimbursement of IMU and TASI debits and credits.
• Reduces the primary and secondary land development expenses as follows:
  Improvement parameter for the identified areas:
  Urban planning: reduction by 20.1%
  Construction cost: reduction by 20.1%
  Return in form of subsidy to the company.
• Reduces the qualitative standard and any expenses needed to change designation of use by 20.1%.

Promotional activities and assistance to investors

• Provides preliminary consulting services and support to companies in the presentation and implementation of their projects, with the issuance of written opinions if requested in the proposal.
• Holds regular meetings to solve any problems with the investment process and to provide support regarding methods for payment of local taxes.
• Enables forms of collaboration with the credit institutions in the region.
  
  

Why investing in the Mantua Oltrepò?

The complex framework of the Oltrepò Municipalities is linked to its remarkable vocation to be a hinge between Lombardy and Emilia Romagna, combining the best features of the two realities.  Indeed, it is one of the few territories in Lombardy to extend beyond the river Po. It is an area distant from the centrality of the regional capital. It is a characteristic territory, able to define a local governance scheme for the integrated and coordinated management of the cultural, environmental and touristic systems and of the associated services, of the socio-economic and rural systems. Crossing the Mantua Oltrepò means finding an environment where the men’s industriousness blends with the natural peacefulness, where the sounds of the productive life get lost in the silence of open countryside.

This is why the territory hosts the Rural Oltrepò Cluster, which includes:

• 3.537 agricultural firms, equal to the 35% of the agricultural businesses in the Mantua Province
• A total of 14.037 firms, equal to the 36% of the Mantua Province
• 3.560 employees in the agricultural sector (average of the Mantua Oltrepò 5.5% on the national statistic, provincial average 7.3%) 

Indeed, the Oltrepò area presents a rich and specialized agriculture sector, favored by the positive geo-climatic conditions and by highly fertile soils, managed through advanced mechanical means (which is what also explains the specialization of the mechanical industry). The rural area is mainly destined to the production of cereals and forage for the livestock, but vegetables production is valuable as well. The area is also relevant for viticulture, which characterizes the production of the Mantua Lambrusco. The Mantua Oltrepò is very strong in the agrifood sector, characterized by its typical productions, also known internationally and by the quality of the local food and wine specialties. The Oltrepò surroundings also houses the production of the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, produced in the 92% of cases by dairy cooperatives, affected in the last years by mergers and concentration processes.   

While it is true that the Municipalities of San Benedetto Po, Quistello and San Giacomo delle Segnate are located in a strategic position as they border Emilia Romagna, Veneto and up to eight provinces, it is also true that the distance from Milan, the beating heart of the Region, made the inclusion in the regional economy more difficult to achieve.

Even if it may appear less strong than other Lombard areas, the Mantua province in the years has been the settlement destination of important agricultural and industrial firms, and, in the last years, due to the national economic development, most importantly of the tertiary and logistic sectors.

The presence in the Mantua province of many SMEs has always been a typical characteristic of the territory. In 2016, more than 8,500 SMEs were active especially in agriculture (more than 2,350 active businesses) and in commerce (more than 1,800). The employees were more than 28,500.

Therefore, the territory is highly diversified, with a large framework of highly competitive craft and manufacturing businesses and of some sectorial leaders able to generate business culture and to characterize the territory. While the main characteristic of Quistello is the presence of a strong manufacturing sector, represented by international entrepreneurial experiences, San Giacomo delle Segnate was able to build an interesting entrepreneurial network thanks to its strategic position between Lombardy and Emilia Romagna, where important mobility and logistic firms are settled. Lastly, San Benedetto Po integrates crafts, knowledge and tourism, to the agricultural framework of the territory, which also allows connecting the cultural and monumental offer to the food and wining one.

Two are the fundamental preconditions that made the transformation of the so-called “Suzzara mechanical cluster” possible. An economy based exclusively on an agriculture which is more and more reliant on machines, and the position of Suzzara in the heart of a favorable railway crossroad, that links it with Modena, Ferrara, Verona and Parma, and therefore with the Northern markets and with important marine outlets. The first firm located in the territory was the Officina Casali, created in the mid ‘900 and where more recently the still existent FIAT-IVECO settled. 

Moreover, two are the organizations that support the local entrepreneurship:

• Consorzio dell’Oltrepò mantovano, characterized by an innovative and multi-levelled governance, able to translate in practice words vastly used in the programmatic documents, including “system”, “network”, “integration”, “subsidiarity”, and “participation”.
• Consulta Economica d’Area, that collaborates with the entrepreneurial network and with the education system in order to develop innovative and efficient training courses. It is a no profit organization and one of its objectives is the promotion of the economic and social development and the territorial enhancement. This activity runs through studies, researches, publications and conferences to analyze and understand elements and problems of the area, favoring the realization of interventions and projects, also involving institutions and specific knowledges. 

Lastly, the Oltrepò area traditionally houses specialized training centers, created through the synergy and cooperation between businesses and the territory, the “Scuola Arti e Mestieri”, located in Suzzara, the Technological Center, located in Pegognaga, and the “Greggiati” professional hotel school, located in Poggio Rusco, which includes, among the curricula, one training course dedicated to the food and beverage and to hotel hospitality. Each institution has developed a strong synergy with the local productive environment, starting from training and introducing connections to the post high school degree education, to offering a whole-life education through the Technological Center.

The AttrACT project has been a way to rediscover and re-interpret the territorial environment and communication intervenes, favoring the systemization and the transformation into an organic offer, able to increase the local value perception and therefore its competitiveness.

The Municipality of Quistello has created, in order to provide additional information, the Portal http://attract.comune.quistello.mn.it/ among the activities of the Implementation Program. Also, together with the Municipalities of San Giacomo delle Segnate and of San Benedetto Po, it has created a website (http://attractiva.it/) dedicated to the project, with all the contents of the actions implemented and the different interventions, among which the strategic marketing plan and the presentations about each territory.