Ostrów Wielkopolski
- An Industrious City

- Ostrów Wielkopolski is considered to be a city that is well organized and managed in a modern way that is well above the norm, and people perceive you as a good manager, not a civil servant.  What has been your recipe for the city's success?
- Work, consistency in our actions, and an ability to properly define our needs.  Next, we have chosen tools that helped us successfully fulfil our goals and solve our problems.  The year 1990 created new opportunities for local authorities. We had to find out what they were and act on them as optimally and as quickly as possible.
 Ostrów is a city where new solutions in the area of communal services have been successfully applied.
 Ostrów's local authorities began with the assumption that the municipality should be involved in the effective delivery of communal services and not perform them itself.  Such an effective delivery was introduced by means of modern management methods for these communal services.  In place of the city's publicly run facilities, new companies were formed from the budget, which have the ability to act and finance themselves independently with the use of all financial instruments available.  Back in 1991, we began the process of reorganizing these companies by restructuring the facilities providing communal services into corporate entities operating under the rules of Commercial Law.  Currently, all companies providing these kinds of services are operating as joint stock companies or as limited liability companies and are experiencing an increase in their market value and in their effectiveness.  A significant improvement in the quality of communal services provided can also be observed.  The next step on the road to change was the opening of the first municipal capital group in Poland - in the form of a holding company - Holdikom, S.A.  The company runs and coordinates the activities of those companies that work in the interest of the public.
- Municipal bonds as a means of financing are still something new in our cities.  How is this conducted in Ostrów?

- In order to increase the level of our citizens' social and financial integration, they have been given exclusive rights to manage the capital of the holding company by setting aside up to 49% of the shares of Holdicom S.A. for the residents of Ostrów Wielkopolski.  This process, which began in 1997, remains available to our citizens.  In this way, we want to include the residents in the process of creating and developing the kind of quality services that meet their expectations and thoroughly fulfil their needs. The citizens themselves can develop the standards that should be met in delivering communal services.
The city has issued municipal bonds for several years.  This means of financing offers advantages for the city because we obtain investment capital to improve our roads.  Ostrów is the only municipality whose bonds are listed on the open market (Central Table of Offers in Warsaw) and can be purchased at brokerage houses throughout the country.  The city has been fiscally audited and has received high marks, an "A" rating, for its creditworthiness, issued to us by CERA S.A., the Central European Center for Ratings and Analysis.  Those purchasing new issues can be certain that this is a good, solid, and profitable investment. This year, we plan to issue another series, our fourth, whose goal is the modernization and construction of roads.
 The achievements of the Ostrów authorities have gained the attention of other municipalities, as well as various institutions and organizations.  The city has to its name a large number of distinctions that are cherished by local authorities throughout the country.  It is enough to mention the parliamentary award for the best municipality in the Republic of Poland or the high ratings in term for investment attractiveness from Gazeta Bankowa (Banking News) and the award from the Charter of the Foundation for the Development of Accountancy in Poland who organizes competition for the best financial accounts of a public company.  How did you earn such a distinction?

 I have actually already answered that question. But let me emphasize the most important points.  The city has to have an open, well-constructed budget and plan its investments with a perspective for the future longer than a year's time.  In addition, we have to establish priorities and know how to take advantage of the opportunities that are created by the capital market.  The city also has to be reliable and effective in carrying out the plans it makes.  These are our principles.
- All this is no doubt the achievement of the citizens and authorities of Ostrów. What awaits Ostrów Wielkopolski in the immediate future?
- We are very interested in continuing to make the city more attractive to investors. In 1999, we undertook the writing of a Strategic Program for the Economic Development of Ostrów, which included a wide role for the citizens of the city. A committee comprised of over 40 local leaders - businessmen and representatives of city authorities, the local community and education, took up the Report on the Strategy for Economic Development.  We carried out a SWOT analysis for the city, emphasizing its the strong and weak points, as well as potential opportunities and hazards. We defined four priorities - key issues for the city - to which we included the development of the infrastructure and communal services, the expansion of the city transport services, development of our human resources, awakening entrepreneurialism and attracting investors.
 Ostrów Wielkopolski has qualified for the "Cities of Change" program - a group of cities in Eastern and Central Europe established by the World Bank and the Bertelsmann's Foundation.  The program's goals are to support the efforts of cities in their modernization and development plans.  The cities participating in the program - and therefore Ostrów - by means of exchanging solutions will have the opportunity to work out their own practical strategies and both develop and share their innovative solutions.  Ostrów as a member of "Cities of Change" will have the opportunity to create new quality level for areas such as environmental protection and waste management.
 In Ostrów, we value the significant role played by information techniques as a factor in speeding up European integration.  In May of this year, I signed the "Global Cities Dialogue" in Warsaw, along with the presidents of four other Polish cities and the Mayors of other Central Eastern European cities.
- So, in general, Ostrów Wielkopolski is a modern city, open to bringing in new investments?
- In a ranking of cities' investment attractiveness conducted in 1999 by journalists from Gazeta Bankowa, Ostrów Wielkopolski was ranked second, after Płock, and higher than Poznań. In a ranking of county seats' investment attractiveness, carried out in the first quarter of 1999 by the Institute for Research on the Market Economy, Ostrów Wielkopolski received a high rating of "B", for which we were given extremely high marks for the quality of our labor market (class A) as well as for our marketing activities and social atmosphere (class B). The results also confirm that the attractiveness of our city is increasing.  And we really do have a lot to offer, including good quality water, a quality infrastructure and telecommunications services, and communal services that are of excellent quality and whose prices satisfy investors.
- I wish you continued success, Thank you for talking with us.
Interviewer:  Marek Dański.