Parliamentarians in Zakopane. Discussions included opposition to attempts to list PKL on the stock exchange.
Today, Zakopane City Hall hosted an off-site meeting of the Parliamentary Group for Sustainable Tourism Development in Mountain Areas, dedicated to the development of Zakopane and the Podhale region. The meeting was a working and consultative meeting, aimed at exchanging experiences between parliamentarians and local government representatives.
The talks were attended by Deputy Minister Jacek Karnowski and Members of Parliament: Weronika Smarduch, Piotr Lachowicz, Iwona Małgorzata Krawczyk, Sylwia Bielawska, Mateusz Bochenek, Krzysztof Piątkowski, Marek Chmielewski, and Łukasz Horbatowski. The local government was represented by Łukasz Filipowicz, Mayor of Zakopane, his deputy Iwona Grzebyk-Dulak, Grzegorz Jóźkiewicz, Chairman of the City Council, Andrzej Skupień, Starost of the Tatra Mountains, Deputy Starost of Wawrzyniec Bystrzycki, as well as the mayors of the Tatra County municipalities and local government officials.
The discussions focused on the development and availability of sports infrastructure for Zakopane residents, the need for public transportation in the Tatra County and the entire region in the form of a coherent transportation network (trains, buses, transfer centers), and the possibilities of obtaining funding for pilot programs.
Starosta Andrzej Skupień emphasized that in the Tatra County, infrastructure, including sports facilities, must meet the needs of both residents and tourists. "Some tourism is also related to athletes visiting sports competitions, tournaments, and training sessions. To meet these expectations, we need sports fields and halls at schools, including the School of Sports Championship, as well as the availability of COS facilities and commercial opportunities. The region can continue to develop in this direction, even with a full-size football pitch in mind. You can never have too much sports infrastructure; it's always needed. The same applies to roads and public transport, because this infrastructure, in turn, must keep pace with the development of accommodation facilities," he said.
Another important element of the discussion was the issue of plans to list PKL on the stock exchange, on which Podhale local government officials once again expressed a clear stance.
Members of the Tatra Convention, comprising the Starosts, Mayors, and Mayors of all municipalities within the Tatra County, presented the parliamentarians present in Zakopane with a written response to the proposed letter of intent regarding the further development of PKL SA. In it, they jointly express their opposition to the actions taken by the Polish Development Fund (PFR) aimed at listing the company on the stock exchange in the near future. Instead, they propose presenting their own vision for development consistent with the interests of the local community and recapitalizing PKL based on local government assets and citizen shareholding—that is, while maintaining public control and respecting the region's heritage. They also declared their willingness to engage in further dialogue. The joint response from local government officials was also sent to the President of the Polish Development Fund. The gallery below presents the Tatra Convention's letter to the PFR regarding PKL.
The meeting concluded with a declaration of further cooperation between the Podhale local governments and parliamentary representatives, with particular emphasis on protecting the interests of local communities and supporting the sustainable development of mountain regions.
UM Zakopane, s/