First part of Katowice's strategy: get a long-term strategy
It's working on it. Give it two or three more years.
"This is our main goal," said Andrzej Krysiak, vice director of the city's department of promotion and economic activity. "But until next year there is not even a strategy office, one center where strategy is the fundamental concern."
So far responsibility for strategy has been unclearly defined and overlapped between departments, Krysiak said. It has even partly fallen into Krysiak's department, which has to juggle this responsibility with a grab bag of other non-related tasks, such as city promotion, registration of businesses and even authorization of street parties.
An organizational shakeup to take place next year is intended to sort out this mess, with the creation of a Department of Strategy. Its first task will be to come up with said strategy. It won't be starting from scratch though, taking as its launching point a study done jointly by the architecture, urban planning and promotion departments in 1997.
That study sets the goal of making Katowice "the national center of finance, modern manufacturing and services, culture and science." But so far, lack of a clear city strategy has meant that while there has been a lot of smoke, there has been very little fire in terms of projects actually coming to completion. One of the only local investments to be completed recently is the Silesian Library, which opened its ultra modern doors in October. But the zl. 134 million ($40 million) project had been under construction since 1991.
"The outlook for Katowice among foreign investors until now has been repugnant," said Marek Maryniak, financial controller for Pascal Polska, a France-based construction company with projects in Bydgoszcz, Krakow, lodz and Warsaw in addition to Katowice. "It was the city 'destined to perish.' It was seen as an industrial ruin."
The number one problem which led to this impression among investors was bad roads, both investors and city authorities agree. "The roads are in a disastrous state," said Maryniak, "but at least there are plenty of them."
Poor quality roads are of course a complaint heard throughout Poland. Other problems are more specific to Katowice. For example, the city's very foundations have been undermined by the subterranean excavations by the coal mining industry. This weakens everything up top, whether it be roads or buildings.
Another problem facing Katowice is the fact that it is boxed in geographically, Maryniak said. The city is surrounded by some 50-odd municipalities forming the Upper Silesian urban conglomeration. This means that in effect there are no greenfield sites within Katowice city limits available for development. Connected to this is the fact that foundries and factories are located right in Katowice's city center, something not seen in other cities, said Rajmund Szary, director of Consorg, a Katowice-based management consulting firm.
"Katowice is not ready to be the center of its region," concluded Szary, a life-long resident and self-professed Silesian patriot.
However, 1998 represents a corner turned for Katowice, according to Maryniak.
One cause for optimism is the Katowice Special Economic Zone, which saw its first investment start up in 1998, a zl. 1.2 billion ($347 million) investment by GM's Opel division. (see CBP page S6). The zone, which gives investors tax holidays for investments above ECU 2 million ($2.2 million), comprises four geographically delimited "sub-zones." The zone's headquarters are in the city of Katowice, but the tax-free areas are all in other nearby cities. However, Katowice still benefits by being the administrative center, Krysiak said. "All the decisions are made in Katowice, and all the business infrastructure is here," even though the actual plants are spread out in the surrounding cities of Gliwice, Dabrowa Gornicza, Jastrzebie Zdroj and Sosnowiec, he added.
Other projects, long in the offing, also began to come to fruition this year.
France-based Casino along with Pascal began construction of a zl. 500 million ($143 million) project called "Three Lakes Valley Park." This is a 17-hectare site that when finished will boast a Geant hypermarket, an Ikea outlet, two hotels, a congress hall and a yet to be clearly defined "technopark," according to Krysiak. Construction on the project began in April. The Geant is planned to open in April 1999, with the Ikea due to open in autumn that year and the rest finished in 2000.
Pascal is also involved in a second project in Katowice, the so-called Europark. Located on the highway to Bielsko-Biala, this project was begun in May and is due to be completed by 2001. It will comprise office buildings and a small, medium-standard hotel of 50-100 rooms.
In March, Germany-based construction firm Wendler began a zl. 200 million ($57 million) investment, building a 30-story "Business Center Katowice." It will contain retail space, underground parking for 500 cars and a multiplex cinema, to open in 1999. A second phase adding 25,000 square meters of modern office space is planned to be finished in 2000.
Finally, a Polish-Austrian joint venture called Katowice Centrum Biznesu began in October a zl. 70 million ($20 million) office building due to be completed in 2000.
So far all these projects are just holes in the ground. But the city is also moving on other fronts.
In November the city chose a new mayor, Piotr Uszok. In addition to coming up with a city strategy, he says his No. 1 priority is to invest in the city's roads. A five-year road spending program is now underway that will feature investment of zl. 600 million-zl. 700 million ($170 million-$200 million) to upgrade the city's roads. Katowice's share of the bill will be zl. 60 million ($17 million).
"This is our main goal," said Andrzej Krysiak, vice director of the city's department of promotion and economic activity. "But until next year there is not even a strategy office, one center where strategy is the fundamental concern."
So far responsibility for strategy has been unclearly defined and overlapped between departments, Krysiak said. It has even partly fallen into Krysiak's department, which has to juggle this responsibility with a grab bag of other non-related tasks, such as city promotion, registration of businesses and even authorization of street parties.
An organizational shakeup to take place next year is intended to sort out this mess, with the creation of a Department of Strategy. Its first task will be to come up with said strategy. It won't be starting from scratch though, taking as its launching point a study done jointly by the architecture, urban planning and promotion departments in 1997.
That study sets the goal of making Katowice "the national center of finance, modern manufacturing and services, culture and science." But so far, lack of a clear city strategy has meant that while there has been a lot of smoke, there has been very little fire in terms of projects actually coming to completion. One of the only local investments to be completed recently is the Silesian Library, which opened its ultra modern doors in October. But the zl. 134 million ($40 million) project had been under construction since 1991.
"The outlook for Katowice among foreign investors until now has been repugnant," said Marek Maryniak, financial controller for Pascal Polska, a France-based construction company with projects in Bydgoszcz, Krakow, lodz and Warsaw in addition to Katowice. "It was the city 'destined to perish.' It was seen as an industrial ruin."
The number one problem which led to this impression among investors was bad roads, both investors and city authorities agree. "The roads are in a disastrous state," said Maryniak, "but at least there are plenty of them."
Poor quality roads are of course a complaint heard throughout Poland. Other problems are more specific to Katowice. For example, the city's very foundations have been undermined by the subterranean excavations by the coal mining industry. This weakens everything up top, whether it be roads or buildings.
Another problem facing Katowice is the fact that it is boxed in geographically, Maryniak said. The city is surrounded by some 50-odd municipalities forming the Upper Silesian urban conglomeration. This means that in effect there are no greenfield sites within Katowice city limits available for development. Connected to this is the fact that foundries and factories are located right in Katowice's city center, something not seen in other cities, said Rajmund Szary, director of Consorg, a Katowice-based management consulting firm.
"Katowice is not ready to be the center of its region," concluded Szary, a life-long resident and self-professed Silesian patriot.
However, 1998 represents a corner turned for Katowice, according to Maryniak.
One cause for optimism is the Katowice Special Economic Zone, which saw its first investment start up in 1998, a zl. 1.2 billion ($347 million) investment by GM's Opel division. (see CBP page S6). The zone, which gives investors tax holidays for investments above ECU 2 million ($2.2 million), comprises four geographically delimited "sub-zones." The zone's headquarters are in the city of Katowice, but the tax-free areas are all in other nearby cities. However, Katowice still benefits by being the administrative center, Krysiak said. "All the decisions are made in Katowice, and all the business infrastructure is here," even though the actual plants are spread out in the surrounding cities of Gliwice, Dabrowa Gornicza, Jastrzebie Zdroj and Sosnowiec, he added.
Other projects, long in the offing, also began to come to fruition this year.
France-based Casino along with Pascal began construction of a zl. 500 million ($143 million) project called "Three Lakes Valley Park." This is a 17-hectare site that when finished will boast a Geant hypermarket, an Ikea outlet, two hotels, a congress hall and a yet to be clearly defined "technopark," according to Krysiak. Construction on the project began in April. The Geant is planned to open in April 1999, with the Ikea due to open in autumn that year and the rest finished in 2000.
Pascal is also involved in a second project in Katowice, the so-called Europark. Located on the highway to Bielsko-Biala, this project was begun in May and is due to be completed by 2001. It will comprise office buildings and a small, medium-standard hotel of 50-100 rooms.
In March, Germany-based construction firm Wendler began a zl. 200 million ($57 million) investment, building a 30-story "Business Center Katowice." It will contain retail space, underground parking for 500 cars and a multiplex cinema, to open in 1999. A second phase adding 25,000 square meters of modern office space is planned to be finished in 2000.
Finally, a Polish-Austrian joint venture called Katowice Centrum Biznesu began in October a zl. 70 million ($20 million) office building due to be completed in 2000.
So far all these projects are just holes in the ground. But the city is also moving on other fronts.
In November the city chose a new mayor, Piotr Uszok. In addition to coming up with a city strategy, he says his No. 1 priority is to invest in the city's roads. A five-year road spending program is now underway that will feature investment of zl. 600 million-zl. 700 million ($170 million-$200 million) to upgrade the city's roads. Katowice's share of the bill will be zl. 60 million ($17 million).
