Real estate wrap-up
The city of Sopot has expressed interest in building a yacht marina, a zł. 20-million-plus investment that the city says would attract tourists and have the added benefit of acting as a breaker during storms. If built, the yacht marina would be one of the first of its kind on the Baltic sea. Initial plans call for two new concourses to be built at the far end of the historic Sopot pier. One councourse would run parallel, and the other perpendicular, to the pier. The city intends to carry out environmental impact assessments, which should be completed by next year.
Poznań-based company Maxer, formerly known as Energopol-7, has signed three contracts worth zł. 250 million (€56 million) in recent days, the most notable - but by no means the most expensive - being for the modernization of Poznań's Krzesiny Airport. The zł. 20-million (€4.5-million) modernization of the Kompania Obsługi Lotnictwa facilities at the airport are part of the preparations to remake Krzesiny as Poland's first NATO base. The airport will also serve as the logistics base for air maneuvers to be carried out by NATO this summer. Maxer additionally won a contract as part of a consortium led by Hydrobudowa Śląsk for the construction of infrastructure in Kraków. The consortium won the zł. 190-million (€42.8-million) tender to modernize the Płaszów II waste water treatment center in Kraków. The project was made possible by a donation from the EU's ISPA pre-accession fund, which put up 70 percent of the cost of the project. The final project, to reclaim the land on a disused waste dump in Wrocław for public use, is valued at zł. 46 million (€10.4 million).
Despite the general crisis in the country's construction business, Gdańsk-based Polnord is pulling in almost more contracts than the construction firm can handle. Currently the company, whose most recent high-profile project was the reconstruction of the Green Gate in Gdańsk's old town, has some zł. 300 million (€67.6 million) in signed contracts. Most recently Polnord was commissioned to build a housing estate in Warsaw for Pekao Development, in a contract worth zł. 48 million (€10.8 million). The company has also recently signed contracts to build retail facilities, including a new Leroy Merlin outlet and an Auchan hypermarket. Polnord is proving to be one of the few currently profitable companies in the construction sector. For the first quarter of this year, the company pulled in zł. 418,000 (€94,000) in profit on an income of zł. 43 million (€9.7 million).
Personal hygiene products manufacturer Hygienika Euro Crystal is searching for an investor to build a zł. 35-million-zł. 46-million factory in western Poland. According to company officials, Hygienika is talking to two investment funds from the west and six Russian investment funds about financing the project. Company officials highlighted that they wanted to retain control over the development, and were interested primarily in finding a "silent partner."
Budimex Dromex, a subsidiary of domestic construction giant Budimex, has signed a contract to build a zł. 22-million (€4.9-million) Tesco hypermarket in Tarnowskie Góry. This represents the third contract the company has signed with the U.K.-based retailer in the last 12 months, bringing the total value of Budimex Dromex's work for Tesco to more than zł. 71 million (€16 million). Last month the company agreed to a zł. 28-million (€6.3-million) contract for the construction of a Tesco in Szczawna Zdrój. The third Tesco is to be in Włocławek.
The Interior Security Agency suspects that members of construction-engineering firm Hydrobudowa Śląsk's management board intentionally damaged the company's finances to the tune of more than zł. 12 million (€2.7 million). The prosecutor was tipped off to the allegations earlier this year by one of the firm's shareholders, NFI Jupiter. According to sources, the management was probably trying to buy out the company using its own money.
Two court filings requesting bankruptcy proceedings against construction company Elektromontaż Export have been withdrawn, pending a restructuring plan that the company hopes will be devised by the Industrial Development Agency (ARP). However, the agency has not yet made a decision as to whether it will take on the case of Elektromontaż. In the first quarter of this year the company recorded zł. 14.8 million (€3.3 million) in income, down from zł. 41.6 million (€9.4 million) in the year-earlier period, and a net loss of zł. 12.4 million (€2.8 million).
