What the second attempt at the project looks like – in the article from TOP media:
The canton of St. Gallen has offered its two properties in the Wil West area of Thurgau for sale for 10.3 million francs. This is intended to save the economic development project despite the defeat in the vote two years ago.
The canton of St. Gallen offers Thurgau around 125,000 square meters of land. The two cantons announced this at a media conference on Tuesday. The properties owned by St. Gallen on Thurgau territory belong to the Wil West development area, where around 3,000 new jobs are to be created.
A value of 20.3 million francs was determined for the properties on the outskirts of Wil next to the motorway. After deducting compensation for crop rotation areas and value-added taxes, the price for the canton of Thurgau amounts to 10.3 million francs. The business will next go to the two cantonal parliaments. Although the properties are on Thurgau soil, they belong to the canton of St. Gallen. This is land from the former estate of the Wil Psychiatric Clinic.
Regional municipalities refrain from zoning
In the future, economic growth in the Wil region will take place and companies will be located on a total of 33 hectares in a cross-canton project.
To ensure a tolerable traffic situation, the area in the municipal areas of Münchwilen TG and Sirnach TG would be developed with two train stops and bus lines. A new motorway connection and other measures are also part of the overall project, which aims to reduce traffic congestion in the city of Wil and its region.
In the course of a sustainable use of cultivated land and central economic development, the 22 St. Gallen and Thurgau communities in the Wil region must forego zoning. The project also plans to compensate for any losses of agricultural land elsewhere. The project is supported by the federal government.
Those responsible for the two cantonal governments and a representative of the Federal Office for Spatial Development spoke on Tuesday of a sustainable and exemplary spatial policy project.
Thurgau foregoes development
In September 2022, St. Gallen voters rejected a project loan for Wil West of 35 million francs. The canton of St. Gallen would have wanted to pre-finance the development, development and marketing of the future economic area. Critics criticized the large loss of land.
After purchasing the land share from the Canton of St. Gallen, Thurgau would forego paying for the development of the area. The plan is to one day sell it to investors or area developers.
