Briefs

Still with Mostostal Zabrze

Despite difficulties, Polish construction giant Mostostal Zabrze, is reluctant to sell the majority of its shares in PRInz, the Polish daily, 'Rzeczpospolita', reports.
However, according to Jerzy Smagowski, the President of MZ, should the company's financial situation worsen, this idea might become more of a possibility. It is also possible that the company will buy PRInz's shares from the Swedish constructor NCC and take control of it.

Mitex for Koreans

The construction company Mitex has been announced as the general constructor for the new South Korean Embassy in Warsaw. The USD 2.2 mln contract is scheduled for completion at the end of August 2003.
Eiffage Construction holds most of Mitex's shares (74.79 %). Pro-Equity Fund I has 11.92 % and individual shareholders 13.29 %. The company has previously constructed Hotel Ibis in Lódz (Centrum), Hotel Novotel in Kraków (South), the Media Markt store in Lublin (East) and Hypernova shopping centre in Radom (Centrum).

Ministerial committee finishes its deliberations

The Ministry of Infrastructure committee, which has been looking into the handling of the Okecie airport extension tender, has completed its work. However, its findings will not be announced until Minister Marek Pol makes a final decision, probably at the beginning of next month.
The Consortium Budimex-Ferrovial Agroman-Estudio Lamela won the tender but the Austrian firm Strabag and the German Hochtief protested at what they viewed as malpractice during the procedure.

Appetite for parking

The Mitex and Eiffage consortium and Budostal 5 have placed offers to construct a network of underground car parks in Kraków.
Mitex and Eiffage are interested in all the six locations planned for the car parks and also in constructing an over-ground car park for buses. Budostal 5 from Kraków  have  proposed  building car parks in two locations chosen by city authorities.
The cost of constructing one underground car park (for around 1,500 vehicles) is thought to amount to around PLN 20-25 million. The work should be complete by 2006 and will be a turn-key investment by one investor, who will manage the car parks for 35 years. They will then become the property of the city.

Unicon Group selling three factories

The Danish Unicon Group has sold its paving stone concerns in Poland. The new owners of three factories (two in Warsaw and one in Katowice) are a domestic investor and the American Tarmac Group, part of Anglo American Plc.
The Unicon Group's paving stone business had an annual turnover of around  EURO 16.8 million. The company employed 140 people in its three factories.

Now building materials

Lion Construction Polska has become a building materials retailer. The company is known as a subcontractor and provider of structural elements. But it now plans to start selling construction stone, wooden panels and other construction products.
Nafi Ergurbuz, Lion Construction's President told us, 'We will be representing Turkish producers licensed by Western companies. Our calculation showed, that even though we will have to transport the materials from Turkey to Poland, our prices should be competitive on the market here' .

 

91 km by 2005

By September 2005,  the Gdansk Transport Company (GTC) will have built 91 km of the A1 motorway, from Gdansk to Grudziadz. The investment will cost around EURO 700 million and the contract is a public-private partnership.

Mostostal Export restructures

At the beginning of August, the Supervisory Board approved the Mostostal Export Group's restructuring plan, which  includes introducing direct management to its companies.
According to the plan,  the group's companies' managing directors will be appointed within two months and will report directly to the management of Mostostal Export. Other plans include, implementing a uniform marketing strategy and a common information policy, (a central database of tenders, clients, suppliers and materials will be set up). Outsourcing and a Centre of Common Services will also be introduced.
The restructuring will also consist of selling redundant assets, worth PLN 300 million, including the 12,600 sqm. Centrum Biurowe Lubicz (Lubicz Office Centre) and staff numbers will be reduced by 300 employees.
The group hopes restructuring will bring positive financial results in 2003, and generate profit in 2004. In August, the company announced a USD 3 million contract to build apartments in Moscow and an initial agreement for the turn-key construction of three sports' facilities, worth from 3,5 to 4 million USD.