Seventeen Silesian cities to unite into one.
The great potential of the Silesian region has already been discussed by Specialists from Metropolis Commercial Real Estate in their report published at the beginning of October.
Today everybody is talking about the project which will result in Warsaw ceasing to be
the largest Polish city. This title will be handed over to Silesia, the new city formed from seventeen Silesian cities.
Budget - 17 billion zl. Number of inhabitants - more than two million. Area - similar to London. These numbers show how big Silesia is going to be. It will consist of Katowice, Sosnowiec, D±browa Górnicza, Gliwice and a few smaller cities. What will be the benefits? First of all, it will be easier to draw the attention of international investors to a large agglomeration than to a small city such as Tychy.
Is the project likely to be implemented? Quite possibly.The only condition is the Polish parliament's agreement. The idea, however, seems to have MPs' support. The inhabitants of Silesia also seem to back the project. Even its name has been agreed upon. Although Piotr Uszok, President of Katowice, would prefer the agglomeration to be named after his city,
the self-governors of Silesia, together with the inhabitants of other cities, oppose this idea. The name "Silesia" clearly refers to its location and should be easy to promote in the countries of the European Union. "I think this name would be accepted both by a person from Gliwice and from Sosnowiec" - says Paweł Silbert, President of Jaworzno.
The self-governors assure that the inhabitants of the "Super-City" will not face any difficulties related to this initiative. They will not have to change their documents because the official addresses will remain the same. Silesia will be a metropolitan union consisting of boroughs, which, for the inhabitants' convenience, will keep their old names. Besides, the initiators claim that doing official business will actually be more straightforward.
"Obtaining documents, certificates and permissions will take place in the nearest office," explains Tomasz Pietrzykowski, Governor of the Silesian Province. At present, the inhabitants of Katowice have a long way to their Municipal Council, which for some of them is located further than the Municipal Office in Chorzów. This happens because the city borders are artificial and people living on the same street can actually be residents of different cities. The Tysi±clecie Housing Estate, for instance, is divided into two parts - one belonging to Chorzów, the other to Katowice. Of course, there will also be other advantages, such as one type of bus tickets for the whole agglomeration.
Krzysztof Żarek, a taxi driver, is hoping that joining the cities will prevent leaving the roads unfinished. "The four-lane road to Mysłowice has been left unfinished for years. It ends with a 'no entry' sign once you have gone beyond the borders of Katowice,"says Mr Żarek.
The agglomeration will have common funds for financing road investments of all member cities.
Silesian self-governors think that joining the cities will also facilitate the competition with other cities for organization of major events. This year, for instance, the representatives of UEFA did not choose Chorzów as the organizer of Euro 2012. They decided that a big stadium is not enough and Chorzów's facilities are not sufficient for hundreds of thousands
of supporters. They did not take into account the hotels in Katowice or Sosnowiec as the potential accommodation for thousands of sport fans; they regarded them as separate cities. "Had Silesia existed, this problem would not have arisen," argues Pietrzykowski.
Most of the inhabitants of the Silesian Province were delighted to hear about the project.
"I think it will be hard to find a person that would oppose the idea. However, I am afraid that Warsaw may have something against it. The capital city does not want any competition. When it finds out what is going on, we will have to stop dreaming," says Krzysztof Kurek,
a resident of Katowice.
Yet, discontentment may not only be found in Warsaw, but much closer - here, in Zagłębie. Its everlasting animosity with Silesia is well-known. "I am afraid that Katowice will become the centre of the agglomeration and get most of the advantages. I have never been a Silesian man and I do not want to be forced to become one," says Paweł from Sosnowiec.
(source: Sławomir Cichy, Dziennik - 11 grudnia 2006 r.)
