Sejm commission accepts Wroclaw bid to host World Expo
Wroclaw's bid to host the World Expo in 2010 got a boost last week when a parliamentary commission threw its support behind the southwestern city's plan.
The Sejm's commission on local government and regional policy accepted a draft declaration supporting Wroclaw's bid to host the expo. The draft calls for the government to formally submit the application to the international exhibition office in Paris. The nod of approval by the commission paves the way for the Sejm to debate and vote on the declaration as early as the end of this month.
"It was a unanimous decision to go ahead and propose the declaration for the open session of Parliament," said Wladyslaw Serwatowski, the person heading up Wroclaw's expo bid. The move also serves as the first step in transforming Wroclaw's local venture into a national priority.
The city's attempt to secure a parliamentary declaration in May was dashed due to the collapse of the governing coalition last month. Wroclaw hoped to obtain Parliament's approval in enough time for politicians to officially announce the candidature on Polish National Day at the Hanover Expo on June 21. Now organizers have their eye on August 23 as the next possible date for the official announcement, as part of the Lower Silesian week at the Polish pavilion in Hanover.
The decision by Parliament is also a prerequisite to launching feasibility studies for funding the event. The price tag to host the expo could reach $3 billion, with roughly 60% or $1.8 billion covered by the government and businesses within Poland. The remainder would be covered by governments represented at the show and the international private sector.
Apart from funding the event, Poland will also have to come up with roughly $3 billion to cover infrastructure investments to upgrade roads and other transportation networks, said Jerzy Hendrich, director of Commercial Property Services, a property consultant based in Wroclaw.
Feasibility studies will also be important for the Wroclaw expo to find a place in the 2001-2010 national budget, Serwatowski said.
If the Sejm declaration is secured this summer, Poland will then look to make a formal application to the International Exhibition Office (BIE) in Paris by the beginning of next year. BIE regulations allow candidates to submit their bids no earlier than nine years before the event is to take place. Organizers in Poland are scrambling to be first in line.
"It's important from my point of view to be the first country to present BIE with a project for 2010 because then the Paris organization will inform all 87 countries that Poland applied to host the exhibition," Serwatowski said. "It's important to be the leader from the start."
As a local initiative, until now Wroclaw has carried the burden of promoting the expo bid on its own. By year's end the city will have forked out more than zl. 1 million ($243,000) to plug the event locally and internationally, said Pawel Moras, manager of the expo office in Wroclaw.
If the declaration is passed by the Sejm, Wroclaw could stand to benefit from some of the zl. 80 million ($18.6 million) set aside by the government earlier this month to promote Poland within the European Union. To counter waning support for this country's candidacy to join the union, the government this month launched a program aimed at winning over European governments and citizens.
