Two businesses in Szigetvár have committed to creating a total of 105 full-time jobs on industrial sites leased from the municipality. The contracts were signed on October 13. However, based on publicly available documents, it is not yet known what types of activities will be launched on the sites, how much the companies will invest, or by when they must fulfill their employment commitments.
Szigetvár has signed contracts with two local businesses for the use of a total of 6,891 square meters of municipal industrial land. The city council selected the winning bidders at the end of September, and according to the mayor’s report prepared for the October 29 meeting, the contracts were signed on October 13.
The two bidders committed to employing a total of at least 105 full-time workers. The number seems significant, but it is important to note the precise wording: these are not existing jobs, but rather commitments made in the bid and subsequently in the contract.
MÁTRA 94 Kft. has taken on 80 positions.
The first call for bids concerned a 2,000-square-meter portion of the property with cadastral number 2099/1, which is owned by the municipality and has a total area of 5,092 square meters.
The call for proposals stipulated a minimum monthly rent of 0.50 euros plus VAT per square meter, as well as the employment of at least ten full-time employees. During the application period from August 7 to September 10, only one bid was received.
MÁTRA 94 Kft. offered a monthly rent of 0.67 euros per square meter plus VAT and committed to creating at least 80 full-time jobs. This amounts to a monthly rent of 1,340 euros, or 16,080 euros per year, plus VAT.
The company, headquartered on Zsibóti út in Szigetvár, submitted its bid. However, the publicly released tender documents do not specify what economic or industrial activities the company intends to carry out on the leased property, whether it plans to build a new facility, or the size of the planned investment.
FÁMA expects to create 25 jobs
The second bid concerned the 4,891-square-meter property located at 31 Ország út, Szigetvár, with cadastral number 2099/5. According to the documents, the area designated as an “industrial park” includes a workshop, a restroom and locker room building, and an electrical transformer building.
Only one valid bid was received for this property as well. FÁMA ELSŐ MAGYAR AUTOMATA Zrt. agreed to pay a monthly rent of 0.60 euros per square meter plus VAT and to employ at least 25 full-time workers.
The monthly rent for the entire property is thus 2,934.60 euros, or 35,215.20 euros annually, plus VAT. The company’s registered address is the same as that of the leased property, but the application does not specify the planned activity, the investment amount, or the start date for employment in this case either.
The legal status of this property is more complex. The city acquired it in 2001, began developing it in 2002, and later built roads and public utilities using European Union and state funding. For this reason, the Hungarian State and the Hungarian National Asset Management Agency (MNV) have a right of first refusal until 2027. According to the documents, the MNV did not raise any objections to the development, but the state’s rights had to be taken into account when the contract was signed.
51,000 euros in annual revenue for the municipality
Together, the two contracts amount to a monthly rent of 4,274.60 euros, or 51,295.20 euros per year, plus VAT. The rent is specified in euros but must be paid in forints; the exchange rate of the Hungarian National Bank as of January 2 of each year is used for the conversion, and the amount calculated in this manner is fixed for that year.
The draft contracts provide for an indefinite lease term with a 60-day notice period. Utility, operating, and maintenance costs are the responsibility of the tenants. According to the tender documentation, companies may claim reimbursement from the municipality for improvements they have made only on the basis of a separate agreement.
Only one bid was received for both areas
In the evaluation of the proposals, rent accounted for 70 percent of the weighting, and the committed number of employees accounted for 30 percent. Both companies significantly exceeded the threshold of creating at least ten jobs, thus achieving the maximum score for the employment sub-criterion.
However, the intensity of the competition was limited by the fact that only one bid was received for each property. Thus, while the city received a rent higher than the advertised minimum and a significantly larger number of promised jobs, there was no actual bidding competition among multiple bidders.
Nor do the public documents clearly indicate the deadline for creating the 80 and 25 jobs, respectively, or how long they must be maintained. Nor do the published proposals and contract templates specify the detailed legal consequences of any failure to meet these commitments. This is significant because the employment commitment is one of the most important elements of the economic value of the bids.
This could be a significant factor in the local labor market
According to employment data cited in the city’s 2025–2030 crime prevention strategy, there were 421 registered job seekers in Szigetvár in July 2025. The 105 job openings are roughly equivalent to one-quarter of this number.
Of course, this does not mean that these investments will automatically provide jobs for a quarter of current job seekers. It is not known what qualifications and experience the new positions will require, nor whether companies will rely on local or regional labor. Nevertheless, the comparison shows that fulfilling these commitments could have a noticeable impact on the local labor market.
In the coming period, therefore, it will be worth paying attention not only to when the actual development of these areas begins, but also to what kinds of investments companies launch, when the first job postings appear, and how the local government reports on the fulfillment of its commitments.
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