Coal mines put forward $2 billion five year investment plan

The government's plan to restructure the mining industry assumes that the sector will invest as much as zł.7.9 billion between 2006-2010. About zł.4 billion will be spent on building new premises and zł.3.9 billion on buying new machinery. The money would come from the sector's own sources. "The assumptions are very ambitious, but we cannot be sure if they can be accomplished. The improvement in our present financial standing can be seen as a positive sign, which could make our investments easier," said Janusz Olszowski, president of the Mining Chamber of Industry and Trade (GIPH). A major factor behind the ambitious plan was that over the past 13 years there was constant political pressure to ensure high levels of production at the cost of new investments. Unless this gap is made good, soon output and safety will suffer. (Puls Biznesu, p. 8) D.W.