Several companies plan to locate their new or expanding business in the Oxford Hills under the Pine Tree Development Zone program.

Barb Olson, vice president of the Growth Council of Oxford Hills, confirmed Monday that several companies are awaiting final approval of their eligibility from the state Department of Economic Development, which administers the economic development program.

The program, which lasts 10 years, provides sales tax exemptions, options for local property tax breaks, sales tax exemptions and electricity discounts. The incentives are only available to companies in the manufacturing, financial services and technology fields.

The final hurdle requires the business to convince the state that “but for” the zone designation, the project would not happen, Olson said. She declined to name the companies, or to say if they are new or expanding businesses.

The state will act on the applications in the next week or two, after which the projects can be made public, she said.

A total of 45 separate parcels have been designated as Pine Tree Zones in the four Oxford Hills towns of Norway, Paris, Oxford and Waterford. Norway has five, Paris, 22, Oxford, 17, and Waterford, one. The land adds up to 798 acres. Of that total, the usable acreage for development is around 460 acres.

Nearly 5,000 acres within Oxford, Androscoggin and Franklin counties received the Pine Tree Zone designation. Lewiston and Auburn have zones totaling 2,318 acres, with the greater Rumford area and greater Farmington area totaling 1,884 acres.

Growth Council President Brett Doney said the zones are meant to send a signal outside the state that “Maine wants your business.” Because so many parcels in so-called economically depressed areas have Pine Tree Zone status, he said, “It’s one of those things, you don’t want to not have it” as an available incentive.

The growth council’s business attraction strategy highlights quality of life benefits, rather than costs, in its business attraction efforts, Doney said.

“If we’re competing only on cost we’ll be dead,” he said. “We have to compete on other things” such as the area’s natural beauty and its quality workforce, he said.

The following is a list of the towns and the parcels designated within them as Pine Tree Zones:

Norway – Western Maine Technology Park, C. B. Cummings & Sons, New Balance Athletic Footwear Inc., Grover Gundrilling and LAW Leasing Corp. (near Grover Gundrilling).

Paris – On Route 26, properties owned by Verrill & Tibbetts, Sterling Mills, Frances Rolfe, Richards, Odessa/Gordon Davis, Hidler, Poland, Jewell, Moore, Franke, Colby, Mason, Eshlemen, KBS and Sam Sessions; on High Street, properties owned by Young, Kry Inc., and Gilman; the C.N. Brown property, the Paris Manufacturing property, and the Brazier property on Oxford Street.

Oxford – On Route 26, properties owned by the University of Maine, John Schiavi, National Wood Products, Oxford Call Center, Oxford Shopping Plaza, Oxford Hills Business Park, Oxford Homes, Cornwall Industries and Burlington Homes; also, the Oxford County Regional Airport, the Poland and Whetzell properties on Skeetfield Road, John Schiavi’s Roller Rink Park on Roller Rink Road, Robinson Manufacturing on King Street, Keiser Industries/Saunders Brothers and the Benson property on School House Road.

Waterford – the Sanborn Machine property on Route 35.