Eastern Switzerland: Work on "Wil West" continues despite lost vote
The lighthouse project was defeated by the electorate in the canton of St. Gallen, but the canton of Thurgau intends to maintain the zoning of 33 hectares.
The site development Wil West has to accept a setback: On Sunday, the voters of the canton of St.Gallen rejected the special credit for the project with 52.58 % no votes. The vote had come about because the canton of St.Gallen is the owner of two plots of land in the Thurgau municipality of Münchwilen. For the development and marketing of the area (about 124,000 square meters) would have required financial inputs in the amount of CHF 35 million.
The canton of Thurgau, meanwhile, asserts its will to stick with the project. "The no to the special credit does not mean that the overall Wil West project is dead," says Thurgau Cantonal Councilor Dominik Diezi, who also chairs the steering committee of the cross-cantonal Wil West project. The canton of Thurgau still plans to zone the area. However, "various open questions now need to be clarified" - in particular, how the canton of St. Gallen will deal with its land holdings on the site.
Over the next 20 to 30 years, around 3,000 jobs are to be created on a total area of 33 hectares in the municipality of Münchwilen and in the adjacent already existing commercial and industrial zone of Sirnach-Gloten. About the project we had last here reports. (aw)
