Special Economic Zones Planning for Sustainable Ports: General Approach for Administrative Simplifications and a Test Case

Abstract

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are geographical areas with regulatory regime where the enterprises receive incentives, through i.e. tax breaks, and have administrative simplifications, with the aim to increase the enterprises competitiveness, the attraction of direct investments especially by foreign subjects, the new increase in exports, the creation of jobs work and, more generally, the strengthening of the productive fabric by stimulating industrial growth and innovation. A SEZ implies the implementation of regulatory and administrative simplification actions in order to rationalize the procedures and to make the relationship among administration, citizen and business simpler, transparent and direct. Calabria Region has approved Strategic Development Plan for SEZ Calabria, that has its center in Gioia Tauro including the port and the industrial area. Gioia Tauro port is specialized in container transhipment operations and it has a great expansion capacity to become a third-generation port also due to the presence of the SEZ. The paper proposes a general model, a graph, that defines the concept of administrative simplification and introduces a cost function associated with it. The paper presents a general framework of the administrative simplification system developed by Calabria Region for the SEZ. The deepening of this topic is very interesting in relation to its impacts on the economic and social sector of the region and the country.