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Interview: Mr. Włodzimierz Fisiak Marshal of The Lodz Region, Poland

By Amarendra Bhushan for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:April 26, 2009

Mr. Włodzimierz Fisiak Marshal of The Lodz Region, Poland

By: editor
Ceoworld.biz
The following Interview is brought to you by ceoworld.biz.

ceoworld.biz: Mr. Marshal, what are the main advantages of the Lodz Region which may be valuable for the investors?

Włodzimierz Fisiak: First of all – our central location on a route of the main communication tracks in Poland. In Strykow near Lodz there will be soon created a crossing of two main Polish motorways. Another important road to be built in the coming years is the S8 highway, running across the region’s territory. I think that the issue of connecting Warsaw, Lodz, Poznań and Wrocław by means of a fast railway is a future project, however there are no doubts that sooner or later this idea will be put into practice. The investors have a huge agglomeration at their disposal. In the global economy we can observe a tendency of capital concentration around such larger agglomerations. As far as the city’s population is concerned, Lodz takes the 3rd place in Poland. That is a huge potential. The proximity of Warsaw and the Mazovian Region is another aspect showing that our region becomes a natural scientific and economic pole, which can be a serious partner for such western cities, as Berlin and Paris.

ceoworld.biz: According to the research carried out by The Gdansk Institute for Market Economics the main advantage of the Lodz Region are the attractive assets of labour force.

Włodzimierz Fisiak: We have a strong research and development potential. There are over 20 universities located in the region, with over 120 thousand students. This is a great advantage. These are usually young people and I think that it is the academic education, what decides about the region’s competitive position. The economy generates more and more demand for the technical staff in the companies. I am talking about the people we used to describe as the technical college graduates. Nowadays we have those profiled secondary schools, which in my opinion do not correspond to the market expectations.

That is why we plan to create the School of New Technologies. It is intended for adult people, secondary school graduates, who will be retrained for new professions. The world economy is running like a train and we cannot think that the education is finished together with graduating. The truth is, we have to learn constantly because the technical development requires it from us. This can be achieved by various means, by existing universities, postgraduate studies, schools for adults as well as by independent learning, when you take advantage of modern media and technical devices. That is why we are aiming at broadening the Internet access among the Region. To be honest, only about 20 per cent of the region’s population has got the Internet access. And this problem occurs not only in the Lodz Region but in majority of regions in Poland. Comparing to other highly developed economies Poland’s position is rather at the far end and another task for the regional authorities is to stimulate development.

ceoworld.biz: Do the foreign investors still have a chance to take advantage of the attractive offer of the Lodz Special Economic Zone? There are may companies which decided to run their business within it in the last time.

Włodzimierz Fisiak: The Lodz Special Economic Zone is nowadays an area of 900 ha and its main advantage is the fact that it is territorially dispersed. There are opinions that such areas should be located in on place, but I think these are wrong – territorial dispersion provides a chance of settling the companies in various parts of the region and supporting sustainable growth. By now, 80 per cent of the Zone’s area is being used. However, there are further suggestions of potential enlargement. We observe a constant inflow of the investors and although the plants in Western Europe are now being closed because of the crisis, the entrepreneurs do not shift their production to the Far East, but to such regions as the Lodz Region. The examples here may be Dell or Indesit.

The last report on the Polish regions’ performance in the time of crisis also shows the strength and position of the Lodz Region. Our region was the only one, where the production has risen by 2 per cent in comparison to January 2008. In other regions the production has fallen, this shows our huge potential. The inflow of foreign capital to the economical zone has its effects in financial condition of the region.

ceoworld.biz: The research shows that the tourism is another competitive advantage of the Lodz Region. What are the plans of the authorities to take advantage of this aspect?

Włodzimierz Fisiak: The Region needs to take advantage of the developing tourism services sector. The research shows that Lodz does not take the last place in Poland as far as tourist movement is concerned. Furthermore, we were classified at the same position as Warmian-Masurian Region, which is a typical tourist and recreational region. There were several hundred thousand tourists to have visited our region last year, leaving an amount of 660 million PLN here. That is why we have to develop this sector. The proper handling of the European Union financial means is crucial. Such ideas as horse riding route, the development of the Amber Route concept, Roman Route, activities connected with recreation along the Pilica and Bzura rivers – these are very important and desired initiatives. Another example is Uniejów. The tourism has been linked with economy here, by means of geothermal springs. That is why the city is developing rapidly, together with an inflow of people from the region as well as from the outside. Large agglomerations concentrating many people will naturally generate demand for recreational tourism.

ceoworld.biz: Mr. Marshal, could you please shortly describe the main investment projects which are now being carried out by means from the EU funds?

Włodzimierz Fisiak: There are many of them as the EU funds are reasonable. I would like to focus on several key groups. First of all – the road infrastructure, the central location of the region and the government’s decision to carry out the biggest communication investments right here. The role of the local authorities is to support those plans with the investments in local roads. Every year we increase expenses for the modernization of roads, this year it is already an amount of 250 million PLN. It is a large amount, as for a region. We invest in our local airport, we also want to provide certain changes in the railway infrastructure. I think about better communication between the airport and its surroundings, opening the second railway terminal. The transport nowadays needs to be fast and efficient.

Another investment area is connected with the projects for revitalization of buildings of the region’s main cities, i.e. Lodz, Piotrków Trybunalski, Sieradz, Tomaszów Mazowiecki and Skierniewice. The financial funds have been granted for this purpose. The project for the Uniejów tourism offer enrichment is worth about 100 million zlotys. There are plans to build a recreational sport centre there for the teams visiting Poland because of Euro 2012 championship.

ceoworld.biz: Mr. Marshal, despite the good economic condition of the region, its growth is limited by the global recession in the financial markets. This has always affected the unemployment rate. What hopes are connected with such authority as the Employment Council?

Włodzimierz Fisiak: The Council itself does not actually have any right to decide on anything. It is an institution meant to judge and present opinions concerning our economic suggestions and our ideas to fight unemployment. Its consultative role is, however, crucial, because when it comes to spending some money, every piece of advice is valuable.

We are thinking of professional activation of the people above 50 years of age, we are thinking of the active unemployment forms, about proper ways of spending money within the Human Capital program. The Employment Council is the representation of various consultative environments – scientists, businessmen but also the trade unions representatives. We all know that in times of crisis it comes to some turning points and it is crucial to have such a group of people, who are able to conduct an efficient discussion on certain solutions. This representation is broad and it is vital for the Board of the Lodz Region and the local authorities to consult their plans with the Regional Employment Office.

The Council also gives opinions on the projects concerning the education sphere, such as for example The School of New Technologies. It seems that the Polish education system does not comply with the market requirements, leading to a situation, where an average graduate knows ‘a little about everything‘, whereas the market demands certain skills, needed on particular job posts in various economy branches. So on one hand we have 100 thousand unemployed people, on the other – there are huge deficit areas with huge demand for workers.

ceoworld.biz: Mr. Marshal, you have recently attended the Committee of the Regions summit. What can you say about other European regions’ performance in times of crisis?

Włodzimierz Fisiak: The summit’s main subject was naturally the situation caused by the financial crisis and the European Union cohesion policy. I think that the situation in Western Europe is much more difficult than in Poland. In the old EU countries financial problems of great corporations have a negative impact on the condition of particular economies. The extent of mutual connections of these economies is much higher than the interrelation of Polish and the European economies.

The most important issues for me were connected with the role of the regional authorities in levelling the crisis negative consequences. There are various solutions. Some countries are dealing with it by means of the government administration. The example of Germany shows that the government invested 50 billion euros in the country’s infrastructure passing over the ‘lands’, handing the money over directly to the regional authorities. The most efficient way to fight crises, according to the conclusions drawn from the summit, is to strengthen the investments, as they create new jobs and level the crises effects. This could be heard in most of the speeches.

The crisis itself, however, has also positive effects. The European Commission has softened its requirements and procedures concerning the EU grants. The criteria for granting the financial support are no longer as rigorous and complicated.

The other issue discussed during the summit was the CO2 and greenhouse gases emission reduction, which is a simple way to save money in the economy. The lower energy consumption has a natural influence on cost cutting which improves the economic situation and stimulates growth.

Contact details:

Regional Investor Assistance Centre,
Department of Promotion and International Co-operation
8 Piłsudskiego Street
90-051 Lodz, Poland
e-mail: przedsiebiorczosc@lodzkie.pl
phone: +48 422919840

Thank you very much for the interview.

Author : Amarendra Bhushan

Author's Website | Articles from Amarendra Bhushan

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