Better, at least on the paper of the new urban planning agreement, impossible. The strategic bet of the South Korean firm Lotte Energy Materials for Catalonia doubles the investment announced in May 2022, reaching a maximum of 1,200 million. The multinational foresees the construction of up to three plants in Mont-roig del Camp (Baix Camp), although it initially planned two, and the creation of a maximum of 600 direct jobs.
The confirmation of the agreement reached at the end of August in Seoul between representatives of the Generalitat, the City Council of Mont-roig del Camp and the South Korean company Lotte Energy Materials arrived yesterday, a few hours before the planning agreement was submitted to the approval of the municipal plenum. The Department of Business and Labor did so in a statement and in the words of its advisor, Roger Torrent: "Lotte's commitment to Catalonia, with an investment forecast and jobs higher than those initially announced, will allow us to consolidate -us as a reference territory in the mobility industry in southern Europe".
The Mont-roig plants will produce elecfoil for the whole continent, a component with sheets of copper essential in the manufacture of electric batteries. The South Korean firm plans to build the three plants in different phases. If the agreement in the planning agreement is fulfilled, it will occupy a total area of 441,400 square meters in the Comellarets industrial estate.
The municipal plenum of the Mont-roig City Council approved yesterday at noon the agreement that begins to make the agreement signed on August 23 in Seoul (South Korea) a reality on an urban planning scale. All the municipal groups voted in favor with the exception of the five councilors from the Junts group, the main opposition party, who reproached the mayor of Mont-roig, Fran Morancho (PSC), for not having informed the remaining parties of his trip to Seoul to close the details of the investment. Junts has demanded a technical monitoring commission.
Torrent emphasized that projects like the one that Lotte Energy Materials wants to develop in Catalonia "are completely aligned with one of the priorities of this Government, such as the reindustrialization of Catalonia with projects of high strategic value, generators of quality jobs and with a drag effect".
The urban agreement defines the space for industrial use, the transfer of land by the City Council and the creation of green areas. The municipal legal services are just closing the purchase and sale operation of the land where the South Korean giant will be located, as the mayor of Mont-roig announced yesterday in plenary.
The first phase foresees an investment of 400 million for the construction of the first of the three plants (2025). It will have an annual production capacity of 30,000 tons of elecfoil and will create 200 direct jobs.
