Metz (AFP)
The e-commerce giant, Amazon, plans to set up a European logistics platform on the Frescaty plateau, a former air base south of Metz, announced Monday Metz Métropole, owner of the land.
"There is a real perceptive implantation" of Amazon, said at a press conference the president of Metz Métropole, Jean-Luc Bohl, confirming that negotiations were underway with the US group.
"It is Amazon who holds the keys of the calendar, we have prepared the base and the foundations," he said, unaware of when the signing of the transfer of land could occur.
The project calls for the installation of a "logistics platform for irrigating eastern Europe" on 19 hectares and "several hundred jobs" should be created, according to Bohl.
"The proximity (of the agglomeration of Metz) with Germany and Luxembourg is an asset," he said.
The establishment of the group, which entrusted its implementation to the company Argan, had been the subject of rumors for almost a year.
The construction of the logistics center, which would extend over 185,000 m2 of warehouses, is covered by an appeal, emanating from a group of residents. A second appeal, filed by an environmental protection association, was withdrawn.
The former aeronautical base 128, which covers 380 hectares and belongs to Metz Métropole, is the subject of a conversion program, including zac, an agrobiopôle and the new formation of FC Metz.
Amazon's logistics platform must be built on the Zac de la Pointe Sud, a 50-hectare site dedicated to logistical, industrial and artisanal activities. "42% (of the area) are intended for the enhancement of the landscape and the preservation of biodiversity," said the president of Metz Métropole.
Amazon "is going to be the flagship of the zac", he said, hoping that the presence of the giant of the e-commerce raises the interest of new investors.
In July, a delivery site of 11,000 m2 was inaugurated in Woippy, near Metz, and should eventually employ about fifty people.
© 2019 AFP