A NEW £3.8m business
and technology park for Donegal and Derry will help
entrepreneurs on both sides of the border and create up to 200 jobs.
The North West Business Complex, at Skeoge
Industrial Park, Derry, was officially opened
yesterday by the North’s Minister for Enterprise,
Training and Investment, Nigel Dodds and his
counterpart in the Republic, Enterprise Minister,
Micheál Martin.
The business park has been funded by Interreg 111A,
the Integrated Development Fund, through the Ilex
Urban Regeneration Company, Invest Northern Ireland,
The International Fund for Ireland and North West
Marketing Ltd. It is designed to promote enterprise
on both sides of the border.
It will provide space for light industrial type
businesses as well as office space for
knowledge-based companies.
John McGowan of North West Marketing, whose
headquarters are based at the business complex, said
the site was important for the whole region
including Inishowen.
"I would say that a quarter of all our enquiries
come from people in Donegal. We can no longer
confine development to Derry - we have to look at
the North West region as a whole," he said.
"If we are going to promote entrepreneurship, it
would be silly to do it in Derry and not do it in
Letterkenny and Donegal or Claudy. We've got to look
at this region as a single region in terms of
development and entrepreneurship."
The ultimate aim of the cross-border project is to
make the Donegal/Derry region attractive for
indigenous and foreign direct investment. |
