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CHINESE TO BUILD POLISH ROADS....


Lir  
27 Sep 2009 /  #31
It says here

"Pawel Bednorz, representing the Chinese investors, said
Chinese firms were able to build roads in Poland fast and
using less public funding."

tokio.msz.gov.pl/en

And I saw that

"German construction firm Bilfinger Berger set to take over Polish road builder WPRD"
Warsaw. May 28. INTERFAX-EUROPE - German construction group Bilfinger Berger, via its Polish civil engineering subsidiary Hydrobudowa-6, is set to purchase in excess of 90% of Polish road builder Warszawskie Przedsiebiorstwo Robot Drogowych S.A. (WPRD), Bilfinger Berger announced in a recent statement.

"The acquisition will strengthen Bilfinger Bergen's position in view of a massive increase in transportation infrastructure investment following Poland's recent accession to the European Union," the German group stated. Bilfinger Berger is working to widen its operations .."

Admittedly that was in 2004 but makes you think <j/k>

highbeam.com/doc/1G1-117343509.html

Let's hope Poland doesn't come to regret their decision as it may end up a costly process if the new roads end up needing much remedial work in the future or if it doesn't get completed ?

See here........

"Fiji road builders to complete road contract abandoned by Chinese contractor"

rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=25322

Why cant the Polish build thier own roads?

Yes. Why can't they ?

Bet loads of new Chinese restaurants open up in Poland anyways and maybe that's what they are really up too <grin>

:)
Babinich  1 | 453  
27 Sep 2009 /  #32
Chinese are famous for cheap work, not durable or correct work...

Yeah; right again...

Let's see: blast furnaces for steel, pumps for irrigation, plowed seeding (agriculture), paper & the Great Wall of China.
OP wildrover  98 | 4430  
27 Sep 2009 /  #33
I agree completely....the reason the Chinese produce these goods that are , lets say ,, less than perfect...is because people , such as Polish people want to buy them...I myself would prefer to pay a little more for something that will last a little longer...

Last week i bought some sandwich boxes to put my food in for work....i used them three times before they fell to pieces...so...i went looking for my old sandwhich box , made in the UK....its five years old , but still in good condition....Can you guess where the ones that fell to bits after two weeks were made....?
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Sep 2009 /  #34
As long as they don't build the accompanying roadsigns, all will be well ;) ;) The Poles will drive into the nearest bush when they see those signs.

I wonder if they have the 1 man working, 5 men standing but all getting 2000PLN idea, LOL

Prolly not, they haven't been fully introduced to vodka.
Wroclaw Boy  
27 Sep 2009 /  #35
Most of the presents ive been given that are bought in Poland are crap, plastic spoons which if you leave in a soup make it taste like plastic, crockery sets that chip after a few washes the list goes on and on. What they need here is a national standards agency.

As for the Chinese building roads they cant be any worse than the current, can they?
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Sep 2009 /  #36
Good point! They recently redid a road connecting Gliwice to Zabrze and you still descend into potholes. I bet they flipped a coin with the condition, 'tails I don't fill it and heads you don't fill it'. Bloody jackas*es!
Wroclaw Boy  
27 Sep 2009 /  #37
They recently redid a road connecting Gliwice to Zabrze and you still descend into potholes.

Wait for a prolonged freeze, the older roads which they patch up year after year got shite after a freeze. Its rediculous.
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Sep 2009 /  #38
By that time, they are all well into their vodka and warming foods, chatting about how good a job they did on the roads while the poor sods are playing dodge the pothole. It was a pothole here that almost killed me on my bike. A bystander said I was lucky to be alive. I didn't have my helmet and my last recollection was thinking 'oh sh*t, I've had it, I'm a gonner'. I remember looking at my bike in disbelief when I got out of hospital. Mangled was an understatement. Still, it was repairable.

I have NO recollection of being put in an ambulance. Rumour had it that I was straight out. Thankfully, nobody stole my wallet, LOL. I apparently asked my then girlfriend about 50 times if I still had my keys and wallet. Explains my current brain damage, LOL (or Scottishness)
PennBoy  76 | 2429  
27 Sep 2009 /  #39
PennBoy
you are peeking a leopard through a hole
so what you can see is just a fleck

the only good side to them is they're alot cheaper than Polish workers, they're not known for quality work, just like Mexicans, do it fast and not persise. road building has been taking so long in Poland because of all the bureaucracy and also corruption politicians are trying to get some of the money, plus EU is partially financing this and they wanna know exactly where every euro is going. Poland should just give the money and let some European company do this with Polish workers, there's plenty of people that need employment, like the National Stadium in Warsaw which is being built by a German company Alpine Bau Deutschland AG.
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Sep 2009 /  #40
Good point, PennBoy. This is the way the world is going, what Thatcher would have wanted. Compulsory competitive tendering was actually introduced to the NHS and it has spread its wings well beyond that. I'm happy when sb calls for a national body to do it but foreign companies with better profiles/credentials pop up and are in such a position that they can engage in price wars. The top dogs can introduce all kinds of pricing strategies to win. It's not such a bad thing in this specific case as Poles have been calling for improvements in road standards for a long time and progress has been really slow.
RevokeNice  15 | 1854  
27 Sep 2009 /  #41
Im sure they are harder working than Poles are..lol

We can send you some Mexicans over, they work cheap:)

And the never ending circle of mass immigration and job displacement continues. It is what the EUnuchs and capitalist scum want. No nations, just a nomadic working population.
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Sep 2009 /  #42
RN is right here. They need to legitimise the need for intervention over a situation which is spiralling out of control. So many different natives in so many different countries is what they are striving towards.

They open up avenues in different ways, largely through legal apparatus.
sadieann  2 | 205  
27 Sep 2009 /  #43
Poland should be building the roads. A Country will only be strong by building itself. Mass destruction of the Financial infrastructure. Shocked that Poland would unify with China? Poland should analyze the consequences of relying on another Country. It's a spiraling effect; Poles will be displaced jobs for cheaper labor.
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Sep 2009 /  #44
Still, Poles (and others here) pay taxes to ensure that public services are carried out. It isn't specified who performs those services. Also, Poles will have to accept the cheaper labour idea when it finally comes round. They have accepted jobs under the minimum wage in the UK and have indirectly tampered with the system in so doing (though not entirely their fault of course). It's hardly unifying, it's more an extension of Thatcher's compulsory competitive tendering notion. It's business! Reliance need not be the norm if you have a plan B.
sadieann  2 | 205  
27 Sep 2009 /  #45
accepted jobs under the minimum wage

It's business! Reliance need not be the norm if you have a plan B.

With consequences. U.S. perfect example of the effects of outsourcing labor. Rely on plan first, never on B.
If Poles are willing to work for less wages than there is a job pool and a need for work. Typically, other laborers are used when no one else is willing to do the work.
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Sep 2009 /  #46
We have to accept that a worker is often just a means to an end. Japan has maintained its concept as a worker being a huge and honoured asset to a company but this concept has dwindled elsewhere.

Also, the decision may not have been made out of cost concerns (though it probably was). Poland has been forging different ties with China for quite some time, there are threads about it elsewhere on this site. That's no bad thing!
sadieann  2 | 205  
27 Sep 2009 /  #47
Japan has maintained its concept as a worker being a huge and honoured asset

Excellent point. As a result, Japan is strong. 'Keep it in the Family.'
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Sep 2009 /  #48
It's sth of a miracle when a small country with 125,000,000 people can create so many jobs and not rely on outsourcing or can fully implement JIT/kanban technology on their own.

It did strike me as surprising that the job of road building was given to the Chinese. Maybe it was just the idea that anybody would be better than the locals who have been stalling and stuffing up for years.
sadieann  2 | 205  
27 Sep 2009 /  #49
locals who have been stalling and stuffing up for years.

Perhaps, losing jobs and the lack of work will be a motivation.
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Sep 2009 /  #50
Well, that's hit or miss. Theoretically, the need to ply your trade so you can keep putting food on the table should be reason enough in itself. However, if you know the mentality here, they will likely be cursing the Chinese and refusing to accept that they were in any way part of the decision to look elsewhere.
sadieann  2 | 205  
27 Sep 2009 /  #51
the mentality here, they will likely be cursing the Chinese and refusing to accept that they were in any way part of the decision to look elsewhere.

I'm not in Poland. I haven't seen that mentality in the U.S. amongst Poles. My Company isn't competing with China for labor. That would throw a twist in business. Labor here is competitive with cheap Mexican labor. The bids are so low it's not worth it to even try to compete. It comes down to quality. One pays for what they get.
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Sep 2009 /  #52
Well, the US way of doing things has clearly rubbed off on them. I can assure you that it is the prevailing mentality amongst that kind of worker here. I have lived here for just over 5 years.

Yeah, invariably that's the case. You just need to use your nose and sniff around :)
sadieann  2 | 205  
27 Sep 2009 /  #53
Yeah, invariably that's the case. You just need to use your nose and sniff around :)

Well said. Survival of the Fittest. U.S. is in dire straights. Comes down to one's desire to pervail in hard times or not.
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Sep 2009 /  #54
I just hope that people don't lose their interpersonal skills and lose sight of what it means to work in a team. Yes, times are tough but it's better to come through tough times together. After all, it is the people that do the vast majority of the work and not the government. There was a classic Bushism on this somewhere (on tough times). May national spirit long be with us and none of this divisive nonsense by globalists (in the name of harmony would you believe, pff...). No dispersion!

As for the Chinese, well, they may surprise us by showing some know-how in an area where they aren't renowned for their expertise. We just have to wait and see.
sadieann  2 | 205  
27 Sep 2009 /  #55
Chinese, well, they may surprise us by showing some know-how in an area where they aren't renowned for their expertise

To be honest, I've never seen one Chinese doing construction in my business. It will be interesting to see the final product and quality.

people that do the vast majority of the work and not the government.

True. The People together as a whole will be the only ones pulling us through this depression..hmm..recession?
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Sep 2009 /  #56
Through this controlled and steered recession, you mean? To tie this in with Poland, former President Kwaƛniewski recently had talks with high-level officials and found that the strings are being pulled and there are those who can take us out of recession whenever they want. I don't completely believe that as you need to reactivate business concerns across-the-board by stimulus packages and also the restoration of confidence (key in a country like America). Still, Bernarki has a lot to answer for.

Personally, I welcome more foreign contractors, albeit on a limited scale. Poland was the beneficiary of much inward investment and its profile was raised by this injection of foreign capital.
sadieann  2 | 205  
27 Sep 2009 /  #57
I don't completely believe that as you need to reactivate business concerns across-the-board by stimulus packages

controlled and steered recession, you mean?

Agree, bailouts and selectively reducing the pressures in our economy and the political passage of a Democrat vs. Republican. With this in mind, do you think a recession does benefit the select in the long run and if so, how? Interesting point.

Agree. The recent Auto Stimulus already has repercussions. 'Cash for Clunkers?' or 'Cash Back?' Prime example of steering the select would be the Banks. How did that benefit the Country as a whole?

Poland was the beneficiary of much inward investment and its profile was raised by this injection of foreign capital.

Yes, Foreign Capital directed in the right direction is positive.
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Sep 2009 /  #58
I've discussed this with many Americans and they all agree that the feelgood factor needs to return. Yes, we are all at the mercy of the big and powerful who throw good money after bad but, at the same time, our awareness of how the economy works and impacts on our lives so directly is raised. We should see it as a learning step. America needs to look inside and see just how exactly the concept of 'the self-made man/woman' came about.

Anyway, this is a digression again and I'm heading for a deserved warning from the Mods. How come you haven't had dealings with the Chinese? Conscious decision or it just happened that way? It will be funny seeing Chinamen building roads here. Little men controlling such big drills etc etc :)
sadieann  2 | 205  
27 Sep 2009 /  #59
digression again

Your points were good and interesting.

I own a Building Contracting Company. It hasn't been a conscious decision to work or not work with the Chinese. They simply are not currently in this line of work. As stated, earlier, competition is with the Russian owned companies who employ cheap labor.
Seanus  15 | 19666  
27 Sep 2009 /  #60
But surely the Russians can't beat you in your own backyard!? As you said, you may be in a spot of bother if companies are satisfied with those standards (quality, getting what you pay for etc) but surely they know that quality guarantees are worthwhile and paying a bit more makes sense? Still, it is the crisis after all ;) ;)

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