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President of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, former President of the
National Bank of Poland and former member of the board of the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development, addressed the BPCC Business
Lunch on 7 March 2007.
‘The fact we are meeting here today is evidence that the success of the
city matters to you,’ she began. ‘Warsaw is a strong and dynamically
developing city and an attractive partner for you.’
She explained, however, that according to a recent report from Jones
Lang La Salle Warsaw has regressed in the ranking of the most
attractive locations for business, the reasons for this including
delays in urgent investments, slow and complicated decision making
within the city administration and the frequent lack of local land use
plans, which hinder private investments. ‘My voters had obviously
assessed the situation in a similar way and gave me clear tasks,’ she
said. Gronkiewicz-Waltz then outlined a number of priorities to speed
up the city’s infrastructure investment plans.
The major municipal investment currently in the pipeline is the Czajka
sewage treatment plant. The situation was quite difficult, she
explained, as there are EU funds which should be used for the project
by 2010, but while in the first tender nobody appeared, in the second
the offer was far too expensive. But one of the first achievements of
the new President was to get the EU commission to prolong the deadline
until 2011.
Gronkiewicz-Waltz is expecting to receive offers in the tender for the
€261 million EU funded Czajka project which will be beneficial to
investors and the public.
Traffic and transport was a major theme of the President’s election
manifesto. She explained that key projects regarding public transport
are the completion of the first Metro line in two years, and the
construction of the second and the third lines; improvement and
extension of the tram system; the Northern Bridge with roads and a tram
line connecting it with the Tarchomin quarter to relieve traffic from
Białołęka and the north; and the traffic node around the planned final
station of the first Metro line close to the Warsaw steelworks.
Gronkiewicz-Waltz also plans to open an alternative road to the rapidly
growing Okęcie Airport, while major access and circular roads need to
be built or broadened and a park and ride system introduced.
To complete all the projects Gronkiewicz-Waltz is introducing changes
within the city’s administration to streamline the structure and
internal organisation, she explained, executed according to the results
of an external organisational audit currently underway. There was
obviously a need for clear job specifications and redefining
responsibilities to help make it much easier for investors, she said.
‘This is a prerequisite for efficient decision making and
implementation.’ And for using the full budget of two billion zlotys
for investment.
One of her first decisions was to reform the function of the Chief
Architect of Warsaw. The previous structure was replaced by an advisory
board, the Commission for Town Planning and Architecture, and the local
land use planning process has been decentralised by empowering local
authorities.
Gronkiewicz-Waltz said, ‘It is a unique undertaking in Europe to create
the centre of a large capital city, and it means a great responsibility
for coming generations.’ Work in progress on the Museum of the History
of Polish Jews, the Copernicus Scientific Centre [Centrum Nauki
Kopernik] and the historical reconstruction of the Saxon Palace is
running smoothly.
As for the Museum of Modern Arts, for which the jury awarded an
architectural design by Christian Kerez, she subsequently decided with
the Minister of Culture and National Heritage to implement the project.
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Gronkiewicz-Waltz was keen to stress Warsaw’s excellent credentials for
investment. She said Warsaw had already become the financial centre of
Central Europe, as well as a centre of know-how in economic system
transformation. It is also Poland’s centre for trade, transport,
national and private media, culture, education and science. Moreover,
she is accelerating the creation of the Technological Park near
Siekierki Bridge.
‘I would like investors to hear my message: Warsaw is Poland’s gate to
the world, a gate which is wide open. Come through and get involved.’
‘Almost 300,000 young people are studying here, and a growing number of
students come from abroad,’ she said. ‘With the very high standard of
education these students are the most valued capital of the city.’ Here
foreign investors can easily find highly educated, creative and
enthusiastic young people.
However, a major problem raised in the questions and answers session
was in fact an issue increasingly affecting investors based in Warsaw,
that is, the shortage of qualified labour as a result of emigration
abroad, and also internally largely due to the cost of living in the
capital, which discourages people from migrating to Warsaw and makes
them choose other flourishing cities such as Poznań or Wrocław.
The Q&A session also touched on the problems of housing
construction development in Warsaw, with government regulations and the
significant problem of land ownership, presumably a hangover from the
war and then communism, holding development back.
The good news, though, was that PKP, Polish national railways, have
finally decided to sell extensive properties both above and along rails
for housing development.
Rashid Khan of BZ WBK S.A. noted that within the Chamber there are a
number of experts with extensive expertise in social housing in the
British market based on the PPP concept, and offered support in forming
a consulting committee to help solve the housing problem in Warsaw.
Asked about detailed practical ‘hard facts’ information about
investment incentives and opportunities Gronkiewicz-Waltz pointed to
the newly established office of investor services headed by Alicja
Żelichowska and the promotions department headed by Katarzyna
Ratajczyk. ‘If you are not satisfied with the answers you receive from
them, simply let me know!’ said Gronkiewicz-Waltz.
The article first appeared in "Contact International Business Voice" issue 1/07(77) - Spring 2007.
Photos in this section: Maria Kowalewska, BPCC
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