For the record (CBP)
In Gdansk, the president gets zl. 7,800, the vice president gets zl. 5,500 and the city council chair gets zl. 3,670. Sopot's city council chair and president get paid the least (zl. 1,914 and zl. 7,000, respectively) while the vice president gets paid zl. 6,000. Council members get paid zl. 1,500 in Gdansk, zl. 964 in Gdynia and zl. 127 per gathering in Sopot. (Dziennik Baltycki)
The Conservative-Liberal Party (PKL) and the Union of Real Politic (UPR) are collecting Zabrze-resident signatures in protest of the city's "immoral and dishonest use" of public money to invest in a local hotel and restaurant. Signers say that the upgrading of the Ambasador hotel with residents' tax zloty is a waste of resources which should be spent on roads, schools and other municipal investments. They added that the refurbished hotel will have a monopoly on official visits and make private hotels and restaurants less competitive. (Trybuna Gorny Slask)
Minister Jerzy Widzyk met with Wroclaw city officials to plan how zl. 10 million ($2.85 million) in state funds will be spent on flood assistance. Minister Widzyk said that the state may give more money if city officials can show it is necessary. Part of the money will be spent on flood controls, such as dikes, while some of the money could be designated for small- and medium-sized enterprises that were forced to rebuild after the floods. (Gazeta Dolnoslaska)
Bank Zachodni should be privatized in the first quarter of next year instead of the second quarter, as was earlier predicted, said Nicom Consulting officials who are advising the state treasury on the bank's privatization. "The process of privatizing Bank Zachodni will be significantly pushed ahead," said Henryka Bochniarz, president of Nicom Consulting. By the end of November Nicom will issue a report on the bank and in December it will announce a price. Negotiations should begin before the end of this year. Among interested investors are Bank Handlowy, Bank Pekao, BIG Bank Gdanski, Kredyt Bank PBI, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole and Powszechny Bank Kredytowy. (Gazeta Dolnoslaska)
lodz firm Medicines will change its name to Polska Grupa Farmaceutyczna later this year. The name change is to take account of two new additions to Medicines' holding company: Carbo of Katowice and Cefarm B of Opole. Together the firm will be the biggest wholesaler of pharmaceutical products and medicines in Poland. The motive behind the merger is consolidation in the Polish pharmaceuticals market and the chance it gives the firm to tap strong foreign capital markets. Medicines started up in 1990 as a distributor of goods to hospitals. It has 4% of the Polish market and was listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) in February 1998. So far this year its profit is more than zl. 8 million ($2.3 million). (Gazeta lodzka)
State-owned leather goods manufacturer Nadbaltyckie Zaklady Przemyslu Skorzanego Neptun was transformed into a limited-liability company as of Nov. 1. The new firm will be called Fabryka Obuwia Neptun. Its major shareholder is Pomeranian Gdansk Development Agency, with 55% of the shares. The new owners plan to finish the restructuring of assets and management systems as well as realize investments allowing the firm to maintain production levels of 1 million pairs of shoes per year. (Gazeta Morska)
Gdanska Stocznia Remontowa (GSR), a ship repair firm, wants to buy Zaklady Urzadzen Okretowych Hydroster, a producer of hydraulic equipment for ships in Gdansk. The new creation will be a limited-liability company (Sp. z o.o.) in which the state treasury gives Hydroster's assets and GSR provides money. The state treasury will have 49% share in the company and GSR will have 51%. Currently Hydroster employs 461 people. Besides a skilled work force, the firm also has a several-thousand-square-meter office building in Gdansk's city center. (Gazeta Morska)
American man-made fabrics producer Unifi wants to invest $100 million in the lodz special economic zone, but has been waiting more than a year for a decision from the Economics Ministry. The ministry's consent is needed for firms wanting to set up in the zone, which grants a 10-year tax holiday to large investments. Unifi's plans call for hiring about 1,000 employees. A source in the ministry said, however, that it is unlikely Unifi will be granted permission to operate in the zone because it would give the firm an unfair advantage over Torun-based Elana as well as other firms in the European Union (EU). Unifi has already been denied permission to buy Elana because of protests by Catholic nationalist radio station "Radio Maryja." (Gazeta lodzka)
A third brand-new station for petroleum transshipment was opened at the North Port in Gdansk. Construction cost about $25 million. Rafineria Gdanska, Petrochemia Plock, Przedsiebiorstwo Eksploatacji Rurociagow Naftowych (PERN), Centrala Produktow Naftowych (CPN), CIECH, Port Polnocny and Kasperski Company were the investors. The general contractors were Huta Ferrum in Katowice, Hydrobudowa Gdansk, PIONA Piotrkow Trybunalski, Hydrobudowa Warsaw - Gdansk branch, Project Office PROJMORS. Thanks to this new station, petroleum transshipment will increase to 33 million tons per year from 21 million tons per year now. (Dziennik Baltycki)
Eko-Drewno Majewski, which was opened in the Suwalki Special Economic Zone Nov. 10, is one of the most modern window and door-making factories in Europe. Eko-Drewno Majewski has been on the market since August 1997 and previously operated as Majewski SA. The factory will employ about 100 people and has sales booked until 2003. It brings to 18 the number of factories in the Suwalki Special Economic Zone. (Gazeta w Bialymstoku)
Officials at the National Museum in Kielce said that new secondary legislation that makes local government alone responsible for the museum may mean that zl. 4 million ($1.14 million) in planned conservation work may have to be dropped. While the local government formerly fed the Kielce museum with state funds handed down to it, it is unclear where the money will now come from, said Alojzy Oborny, the museum's director. In October the government told the museum that all national museums would be provided financing from the central budget. One week later, however, the government changed the law and informed the Kielce museum that while it would be under the auspices of the local government it could still request state aid. Two weeks ago, the government passed new secondary legislation that excludes the museum from state funding. (Gazeta Wyborcza)
The Warminsko-Mazurska Special Economic Zone's supervisory board voted two weeks ago to ban the Rolimpeks and Indykpol animal feed plants from operating in the special zone. "The Indykpol and Rolimpeks feed plants in the zone would be a threat to small feed producers and poultry raisers in the Olsztyn voivodship," said Genowefa Kmiec-Baraniowska, the supervisory board's chairwoman. The supervisory board will request Economy Minister Janusz Steinhoff to cancel the tender those companies won for land for the investment, she added. "The minister's signature is only a formality," Kmiec-Baraniowska said. The tender was held by the economic zone's former management. Supporters of the investment argued, though, that there would be no danger for local feed producers, since all of the annual 200,000 tons of feed produced under the investment would be used exclusively by Indykpol. (Gazeta Wyborcza)
The Conservative-Liberal Party (PKL) and the Union of Real Politic (UPR) are collecting Zabrze-resident signatures in protest of the city's "immoral and dishonest use" of public money to invest in a local hotel and restaurant. Signers say that the upgrading of the Ambasador hotel with residents' tax zloty is a waste of resources which should be spent on roads, schools and other municipal investments. They added that the refurbished hotel will have a monopoly on official visits and make private hotels and restaurants less competitive. (Trybuna Gorny Slask)
Minister Jerzy Widzyk met with Wroclaw city officials to plan how zl. 10 million ($2.85 million) in state funds will be spent on flood assistance. Minister Widzyk said that the state may give more money if city officials can show it is necessary. Part of the money will be spent on flood controls, such as dikes, while some of the money could be designated for small- and medium-sized enterprises that were forced to rebuild after the floods. (Gazeta Dolnoslaska)
Bank Zachodni should be privatized in the first quarter of next year instead of the second quarter, as was earlier predicted, said Nicom Consulting officials who are advising the state treasury on the bank's privatization. "The process of privatizing Bank Zachodni will be significantly pushed ahead," said Henryka Bochniarz, president of Nicom Consulting. By the end of November Nicom will issue a report on the bank and in December it will announce a price. Negotiations should begin before the end of this year. Among interested investors are Bank Handlowy, Bank Pekao, BIG Bank Gdanski, Kredyt Bank PBI, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole and Powszechny Bank Kredytowy. (Gazeta Dolnoslaska)
lodz firm Medicines will change its name to Polska Grupa Farmaceutyczna later this year. The name change is to take account of two new additions to Medicines' holding company: Carbo of Katowice and Cefarm B of Opole. Together the firm will be the biggest wholesaler of pharmaceutical products and medicines in Poland. The motive behind the merger is consolidation in the Polish pharmaceuticals market and the chance it gives the firm to tap strong foreign capital markets. Medicines started up in 1990 as a distributor of goods to hospitals. It has 4% of the Polish market and was listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) in February 1998. So far this year its profit is more than zl. 8 million ($2.3 million). (Gazeta lodzka)
State-owned leather goods manufacturer Nadbaltyckie Zaklady Przemyslu Skorzanego Neptun was transformed into a limited-liability company as of Nov. 1. The new firm will be called Fabryka Obuwia Neptun. Its major shareholder is Pomeranian Gdansk Development Agency, with 55% of the shares. The new owners plan to finish the restructuring of assets and management systems as well as realize investments allowing the firm to maintain production levels of 1 million pairs of shoes per year. (Gazeta Morska)
Gdanska Stocznia Remontowa (GSR), a ship repair firm, wants to buy Zaklady Urzadzen Okretowych Hydroster, a producer of hydraulic equipment for ships in Gdansk. The new creation will be a limited-liability company (Sp. z o.o.) in which the state treasury gives Hydroster's assets and GSR provides money. The state treasury will have 49% share in the company and GSR will have 51%. Currently Hydroster employs 461 people. Besides a skilled work force, the firm also has a several-thousand-square-meter office building in Gdansk's city center. (Gazeta Morska)
American man-made fabrics producer Unifi wants to invest $100 million in the lodz special economic zone, but has been waiting more than a year for a decision from the Economics Ministry. The ministry's consent is needed for firms wanting to set up in the zone, which grants a 10-year tax holiday to large investments. Unifi's plans call for hiring about 1,000 employees. A source in the ministry said, however, that it is unlikely Unifi will be granted permission to operate in the zone because it would give the firm an unfair advantage over Torun-based Elana as well as other firms in the European Union (EU). Unifi has already been denied permission to buy Elana because of protests by Catholic nationalist radio station "Radio Maryja." (Gazeta lodzka)
A third brand-new station for petroleum transshipment was opened at the North Port in Gdansk. Construction cost about $25 million. Rafineria Gdanska, Petrochemia Plock, Przedsiebiorstwo Eksploatacji Rurociagow Naftowych (PERN), Centrala Produktow Naftowych (CPN), CIECH, Port Polnocny and Kasperski Company were the investors. The general contractors were Huta Ferrum in Katowice, Hydrobudowa Gdansk, PIONA Piotrkow Trybunalski, Hydrobudowa Warsaw - Gdansk branch, Project Office PROJMORS. Thanks to this new station, petroleum transshipment will increase to 33 million tons per year from 21 million tons per year now. (Dziennik Baltycki)
Eko-Drewno Majewski, which was opened in the Suwalki Special Economic Zone Nov. 10, is one of the most modern window and door-making factories in Europe. Eko-Drewno Majewski has been on the market since August 1997 and previously operated as Majewski SA. The factory will employ about 100 people and has sales booked until 2003. It brings to 18 the number of factories in the Suwalki Special Economic Zone. (Gazeta w Bialymstoku)
Officials at the National Museum in Kielce said that new secondary legislation that makes local government alone responsible for the museum may mean that zl. 4 million ($1.14 million) in planned conservation work may have to be dropped. While the local government formerly fed the Kielce museum with state funds handed down to it, it is unclear where the money will now come from, said Alojzy Oborny, the museum's director. In October the government told the museum that all national museums would be provided financing from the central budget. One week later, however, the government changed the law and informed the Kielce museum that while it would be under the auspices of the local government it could still request state aid. Two weeks ago, the government passed new secondary legislation that excludes the museum from state funding. (Gazeta Wyborcza)
The Warminsko-Mazurska Special Economic Zone's supervisory board voted two weeks ago to ban the Rolimpeks and Indykpol animal feed plants from operating in the special zone. "The Indykpol and Rolimpeks feed plants in the zone would be a threat to small feed producers and poultry raisers in the Olsztyn voivodship," said Genowefa Kmiec-Baraniowska, the supervisory board's chairwoman. The supervisory board will request Economy Minister Janusz Steinhoff to cancel the tender those companies won for land for the investment, she added. "The minister's signature is only a formality," Kmiec-Baraniowska said. The tender was held by the economic zone's former management. Supporters of the investment argued, though, that there would be no danger for local feed producers, since all of the annual 200,000 tons of feed produced under the investment would be used exclusively by Indykpol. (Gazeta Wyborcza)
