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Business Hub Around Detroit Metro Moving Forward

ROMULUS (WWJ)  - Aerotropolis proponents have been quiet of late. But Wayne County Executive Bob Ficano says the idea of a hub for businesses to locate around Detroit Metro and Willow Run Airports is moving ahead.

Colleta just hired another 80 people and there are a couple of other companies that will be announced within about six weeks that are starting to locate in the area.

The Wayne County Executive says the group that now runs the project has contracted a marketing firm to solicit companies from outside the area and even the country in hopes of landing them near the  Aerotropolis.

Ficano says companies like GE and Kiletta Charters, which is expanding from Willow Run Airport to the Aerotropolis -- are starting to see airports as the trade rivers in the global economy - and they want to be near those rivers.

The Wayne County Executive has been instrumental in assembling 60,000 acres near the Detroit Metropolitan and Willow Run Airports.

Aerotropolis backers, led by Ficano, have said it could create 50-thousand jobs over 15 years. Ficano says to try to speed up the project, operators have contracted a marketing firm to solicit companies around the world to relocate here.

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