Man of the hour
After playing a protracted waiting game, Man Trucks has announced it has chosen Niepołomice, and not Koszyce in Slovakia, as the location for its new truck factory. The company recently signed an agreement with representatives of the Małopolskie voivodship, Janusz Sepioł and Witold Śmiałek.
The president of Man, Anton Weinmann, thanked the partners in the investment: the Polish public institutions and the authorities of the Małopolskie region. He stressed that their logistics operations and eagerness to support the infrastructure largely influenced the final decision to build the factory in Niepołomice. Indeed, Poland managed to win this investment as it "turned out to be a reliable partner who switched from administrative to business thinking," according to the Deputy Minister of Economy, Marcin Kaszuba. "We promised MAN to change the system for financing the investment and to present a years' program for financing the German investment," he added. Man will be paid zł.52 million in total, with payments spread out until 2028.
Man's decision could be a turning point in the long list of Poland's failures to win foreign investments. In 2001 Toyota and Peugeot-Citroen decided to make their small size cars in the Czech Republic. The next year Peugeot-Citroen opened a E700 (zl.2,810) million factory in Slovakia. It was also Slovakia and not Poland that attracted Hyundai-KIA last year. So what did Poland do right this time? Apart from the government's commitment to helping finance the investment, Weinmann also pointed to Man's positive experience with its truck factory in Starachowice and its bus factory near Poznań.
According to the investment agreement, the Małopolskie voivodship will allow Man to purchase a 142-hectare site from an indicated entity. The voivodship will also have to rebuild an existing railway crossing on road number 964 in Staniątki. Man in turn will invest E96 (zł.385) million in the factory, which will produce 15,000 vehicles a year. Some 650 people will find work directly in the plant and the first trucks should leave the assembly line in mid-2007.
Witold Smiałek estimates that up to 4,000 people could find jobs in the companies that are going to appear around the plant. The mayor of Niepołomice, Stanisław Kracik, said: "We will have new citizens, new houses. Many managers, who pay high taxes, will live here. At the moment 40 percent of the Niepołomice gmina's income comes from personal income tax. This will be increased by the real-estate tax. And of course the unemployment rate will fall. Now it is seven percent."
Man is sanguine about the automotive sector, despite rising fuel costs. "I believe that the high level of fuel prices has no impact on our market. This year is good, I think it will be better than 2004," said Hakan Samuelsson, Man's chief executive.
The president of Man, Anton Weinmann, thanked the partners in the investment: the Polish public institutions and the authorities of the Małopolskie region. He stressed that their logistics operations and eagerness to support the infrastructure largely influenced the final decision to build the factory in Niepołomice. Indeed, Poland managed to win this investment as it "turned out to be a reliable partner who switched from administrative to business thinking," according to the Deputy Minister of Economy, Marcin Kaszuba. "We promised MAN to change the system for financing the investment and to present a years' program for financing the German investment," he added. Man will be paid zł.52 million in total, with payments spread out until 2028.
Man's decision could be a turning point in the long list of Poland's failures to win foreign investments. In 2001 Toyota and Peugeot-Citroen decided to make their small size cars in the Czech Republic. The next year Peugeot-Citroen opened a E700 (zl.2,810) million factory in Slovakia. It was also Slovakia and not Poland that attracted Hyundai-KIA last year. So what did Poland do right this time? Apart from the government's commitment to helping finance the investment, Weinmann also pointed to Man's positive experience with its truck factory in Starachowice and its bus factory near Poznań.
According to the investment agreement, the Małopolskie voivodship will allow Man to purchase a 142-hectare site from an indicated entity. The voivodship will also have to rebuild an existing railway crossing on road number 964 in Staniątki. Man in turn will invest E96 (zł.385) million in the factory, which will produce 15,000 vehicles a year. Some 650 people will find work directly in the plant and the first trucks should leave the assembly line in mid-2007.
Witold Smiałek estimates that up to 4,000 people could find jobs in the companies that are going to appear around the plant. The mayor of Niepołomice, Stanisław Kracik, said: "We will have new citizens, new houses. Many managers, who pay high taxes, will live here. At the moment 40 percent of the Niepołomice gmina's income comes from personal income tax. This will be increased by the real-estate tax. And of course the unemployment rate will fall. Now it is seven percent."
Man is sanguine about the automotive sector, despite rising fuel costs. "I believe that the high level of fuel prices has no impact on our market. This year is good, I think it will be better than 2004," said Hakan Samuelsson, Man's chief executive.
