Troubled airport authority sees off two directors in five days
By : Magdalena Wierzchowska
A week may be a long time in politics, but it was even longer for the Polish Airport Authority (PPPL) last week as three consecutive directors came and went.
On Tuesday, Transport Minister Jerzy Widzyk appointed Mieczyslaw Nowak as interim director. Nowak, who also works at the Transport Ministry, replaced Wlodzimierz Machczynski who had been the interim president for the previous six days. Machczynski, president of the Gdansk-Trojmiasto Airport, was forced out due to resistance from the labor unions, according to Cezary Drus, press spokesman for the Transport Ministry.
"It was a laugh," Machczynski said. "I think that Mrozek (a Polish satirist) is nothing compared to all this. The (transport) minister and I came to a conclusion that it will be better if I resign and allow someone who's been agreed on by the labor unions to replace me."
Machczynski replaced Maciej Kalita who was forced out of PPPL as a result of a potential scandal.
In February, the aviation department had already placed a request for removing Kalita, giving reasons such as delays in the company's restructuring process and the lack of decisions for modernizing the current terminal, Drus said.
When on March 14 Widzyk suspended Kalita, the ex-president barricaded himself in his office for three days and only left when the police surrounded the building.
While Widzyk had earlier notified the prosecutor's office of corruption involving the tender for a new terminal at Okecie Airport, Kalita said he was dismissed because he refused Transport Ministry officials' suggestions to choose the tender's winner, disregarding proper procedures.
Kalita's dismissal coincided with the deadline for shortlisting companies for the highly-prized tender estimated at $300 million-$350 million.
Two weeks ago two companies were chosen out of six international construction consortia, Bilflinger und Berger Bauaktiengesellschaft, Bouygues Batiment, Ferrovial Agroman, Hochtief, Skanska and Strabag Polska. The daily Rzeczpospolita wrote that Bilflinger und Berger Bauaktiengesellschaft and Ferrovial Agroman were the firms to pass through to the final round. Members of the tender committee, however, refused to confirm these rumors until the choice had been ratified by the director.
