Work begins on solid waste facility; chambers band together
The project is expected to cost zl. 30 million ($8.6 million), making this Arka's largest landfill, said Marcin Konopczynski, a specialist in the company's contract department. But carrying out similar projects in cities such as Warsaw, which is desperately trying to find a home for its trash, is much more complicated, he added.
"It is very hard to make a decision there," Konopczynski said. "They all show interest. But the process of making a decision lasts for several years and then there are new elections and new officials and it starts all over again.
"It's much easier to come to an agreement with smaller cities, from 100,000 to 300,000 residents," he added. "In smaller cities, officials are more active."
One reason Plock is a favorable area for investment is that the town already owns the land that is being transformed into a waste disposal facility, Konopczynski said.
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LUBLIN - Daewoo, the city's largest foreign investor, is confident that its overhaul of the Lublinianka Hotel here could be its first step into the innkeeping business in Poland.
The Korean conglomerate, which owns 60% of the Lublinianka Hotel Company, expects the renovation to be completed late next year or early 2000. The modernized 57-room hotel, on ulica Krakowskie Przedmiescie in the city's downtown, will be a strong base for future Daewoo hotel investments in Poland, including Warsaw, said Dang Hwan Jin, who represents Daewoo shareholders.
"We want to get involved in the hotel business," Jin said, adding that the company's experience in southeast Poland makes Lublin a good place to start. "Our company knows Lublin well."
Daewoo, along with Budimex, which owns 40% of the hotel, is investing $9 million to overhaul the hotel. Work began at the start of 1997.
Once re-opened, the Lublinianka "will be the most expensive hotel in Lublin for sure," said Jerzy Angrocki, vice chairman of the Lublinianka Hotel Company's supervisory board and adviser to the director of Budimex. He added that the Lublinianka will now be the city's first business-class hotel.
"This is a four-star hotel," Angrocki said, adding that Budimex purchased the hotel from the state treasury in early 1994.
Although it will be upscale, the Lublinianka expects to have no problem filling the beds if current economic trends continue, Angrocki said. The growth in foreign investors, from Daewoo to Italian-German investor Same Deutz-Fahr Polska, means a virtually guaranteed clientele for the upgraded Lublinianka, he said.
"This is a region that is undergoing a huge leap in economic growth," Angrocki said. "In Lublin, foreign investment is visible."
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WROClAW - On the eve of the new administrative reform, local chambers of commerce across southwest Poland have banded together to create a strong, pro-business lobby in the enlarged Lower Silesian voivodship.
Spearheaded by the Wroclaw-based Lower Silesian Chamber of Commerce, last month five business chambers signed an agreement that led to the creation of the Forum of Lower Silesian Chambers of Commerce (Forum).
The organization will group together some 1,000 businesses from across the Lower Silesian region. Wroclaw's Lower Silesian Chamber of Commerce with its 400 members is the largest member. Others include companies associated with the Chambers of Commerce from Jelenia Gora, Legnica and Swidnica and Wroclaw's Industry and Trade Chamber.
"With one voice we can be a partner in the region, in the country and in the European Union (EU)," said Fryderyk Krukowski, director of the Lower Silesian Chamber of Commerce.
To prevent the domination of one city's business community in the enlarged organization, the forum foresees a revolving chairmanship on a six-month basis. Such an arrangement made smaller business groups less hesitant to sign on. "People understood that there is strength in numbers," Krukowski said.
One of the organization's main tasks will be to create a 55-member parliament that will protect small and medium-size business interests in the new government structure. The forum's parliament will mirror in size the recently elected assembly in the voivodship.
"We want to be a counterbalance and watch out for the interest of businesses in the region," Krukowski said.
The first steps in creating the new business parliament will be taken this week when forum members meet in nearby Swidnica. According to Krukowski, the meeting venue outside of Wroclaw has important symbolic significance.
"We wanted to show that they are important," Krukowski said.
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LUBLIN - Luxury automobile dealers in Lublin, such as Lenardowicz Volvo, have moved quickly to catch the city's economic up spin, said Wojciech Dlaman, sales and marketing director of Lenardowicz Volvo.
Lenardowicz Volvo, which sells three models ranging in price from zl. 80,000-zl. 260,000, sold 20 cars in 1997, its first year in business, Dlaman said. This year the dealership expects customers to drive 40 Volvos off its lot, a 100% increase, he said.
"This brand is considered very good in Poland," Dlaman said. "It's considered to be the safest (car) and very prestigious. People who reach a certain financial level want to be as safe as possible."
And as this number of clients grows, so does Lenardowicz Volvo. While the company spent its first year and a half selling from a one-car showroom, the sales increase inspired enough confidence to invest in a new, 200 square meter showroom with space for five models, Dlaman said.
The investment should pay off within three to five years, Dlaman said.
"The investment cost quite a bit," said Dlaman, who would not give a precise price. "But we've had some success on the market."
Still not all worries are gone. With a large number of eastern Polish companies dependent on trade with countries such as Russia, Belarussia and Ukraine, market turmoil there could slow growth on this side of the border, Dlaman said. "The biggest threat is that the Eastern market has fallen," Dlaman said. "All of our clients are connected with this market."
"It is very hard to make a decision there," Konopczynski said. "They all show interest. But the process of making a decision lasts for several years and then there are new elections and new officials and it starts all over again.
"It's much easier to come to an agreement with smaller cities, from 100,000 to 300,000 residents," he added. "In smaller cities, officials are more active."
One reason Plock is a favorable area for investment is that the town already owns the land that is being transformed into a waste disposal facility, Konopczynski said.
l l l l l
LUBLIN - Daewoo, the city's largest foreign investor, is confident that its overhaul of the Lublinianka Hotel here could be its first step into the innkeeping business in Poland.
The Korean conglomerate, which owns 60% of the Lublinianka Hotel Company, expects the renovation to be completed late next year or early 2000. The modernized 57-room hotel, on ulica Krakowskie Przedmiescie in the city's downtown, will be a strong base for future Daewoo hotel investments in Poland, including Warsaw, said Dang Hwan Jin, who represents Daewoo shareholders.
"We want to get involved in the hotel business," Jin said, adding that the company's experience in southeast Poland makes Lublin a good place to start. "Our company knows Lublin well."
Daewoo, along with Budimex, which owns 40% of the hotel, is investing $9 million to overhaul the hotel. Work began at the start of 1997.
Once re-opened, the Lublinianka "will be the most expensive hotel in Lublin for sure," said Jerzy Angrocki, vice chairman of the Lublinianka Hotel Company's supervisory board and adviser to the director of Budimex. He added that the Lublinianka will now be the city's first business-class hotel.
"This is a four-star hotel," Angrocki said, adding that Budimex purchased the hotel from the state treasury in early 1994.
Although it will be upscale, the Lublinianka expects to have no problem filling the beds if current economic trends continue, Angrocki said. The growth in foreign investors, from Daewoo to Italian-German investor Same Deutz-Fahr Polska, means a virtually guaranteed clientele for the upgraded Lublinianka, he said.
"This is a region that is undergoing a huge leap in economic growth," Angrocki said. "In Lublin, foreign investment is visible."
l l l l l
WROClAW - On the eve of the new administrative reform, local chambers of commerce across southwest Poland have banded together to create a strong, pro-business lobby in the enlarged Lower Silesian voivodship.
Spearheaded by the Wroclaw-based Lower Silesian Chamber of Commerce, last month five business chambers signed an agreement that led to the creation of the Forum of Lower Silesian Chambers of Commerce (Forum).
The organization will group together some 1,000 businesses from across the Lower Silesian region. Wroclaw's Lower Silesian Chamber of Commerce with its 400 members is the largest member. Others include companies associated with the Chambers of Commerce from Jelenia Gora, Legnica and Swidnica and Wroclaw's Industry and Trade Chamber.
"With one voice we can be a partner in the region, in the country and in the European Union (EU)," said Fryderyk Krukowski, director of the Lower Silesian Chamber of Commerce.
To prevent the domination of one city's business community in the enlarged organization, the forum foresees a revolving chairmanship on a six-month basis. Such an arrangement made smaller business groups less hesitant to sign on. "People understood that there is strength in numbers," Krukowski said.
One of the organization's main tasks will be to create a 55-member parliament that will protect small and medium-size business interests in the new government structure. The forum's parliament will mirror in size the recently elected assembly in the voivodship.
"We want to be a counterbalance and watch out for the interest of businesses in the region," Krukowski said.
The first steps in creating the new business parliament will be taken this week when forum members meet in nearby Swidnica. According to Krukowski, the meeting venue outside of Wroclaw has important symbolic significance.
"We wanted to show that they are important," Krukowski said.
l l l l l
LUBLIN - Luxury automobile dealers in Lublin, such as Lenardowicz Volvo, have moved quickly to catch the city's economic up spin, said Wojciech Dlaman, sales and marketing director of Lenardowicz Volvo.
Lenardowicz Volvo, which sells three models ranging in price from zl. 80,000-zl. 260,000, sold 20 cars in 1997, its first year in business, Dlaman said. This year the dealership expects customers to drive 40 Volvos off its lot, a 100% increase, he said.
"This brand is considered very good in Poland," Dlaman said. "It's considered to be the safest (car) and very prestigious. People who reach a certain financial level want to be as safe as possible."
And as this number of clients grows, so does Lenardowicz Volvo. While the company spent its first year and a half selling from a one-car showroom, the sales increase inspired enough confidence to invest in a new, 200 square meter showroom with space for five models, Dlaman said.
The investment should pay off within three to five years, Dlaman said.
"The investment cost quite a bit," said Dlaman, who would not give a precise price. "But we've had some success on the market."
Still not all worries are gone. With a large number of eastern Polish companies dependent on trade with countries such as Russia, Belarussia and Ukraine, market turmoil there could slow growth on this side of the border, Dlaman said. "The biggest threat is that the Eastern market has fallen," Dlaman said. "All of our clients are connected with this market."
