On Saturday, 3rd of March 2012, the consortium of Polish NDI SA and Balzola S.A. from Spain will commence works on the first stage of the City Center redevelopment. The long-awaited undertaking will cause several changes in the downtown’s traffic.
To highlight the most important, bus stops will be moved from the Market Sq. to Sokolska and Mickiewicza Streets. On 7th of March, Pocztowa and Św. Jana Streets will be closed for car traffic. Several bus and tram lines will change its routes.
The first stage of the works includes redevelopment of tram tracks and surrounding infrastructure between the Roundabout and the “Rialto” cinema via the Market Sq. The works total PLN 28 million and are divided into four phases. NDI and Balzola have twelve months to redevelop tram tracks located between the Roundabout and Moniuszki St., rebuild a tram track in the area of the Market Square, Św. Jana and Kochanowskiego streets (the line located under the railway overbridge) as well as remove a tram track from Pocztowa and Dworcowa streets. The stage includes necessary road and utilities works.
The companies of NDI and Balzola create a so called integrated consortium. It means the both firms are responsible for realization of the project equally. NDI will contribute its knowledge and experience in the area of road building and utilities infrastructure, Balzola is to be involved in trackworks.
NDI was established in 1991 and is a private Polish developer company. It consists of almost thirty Polish and foreign subsidiaries and operates in the area of commercial properties, infrastructural projects and in the energy sector. In Katowice, the company was responsible for construction work on the ING Bank Śląski SA headquarters and the “Chorzowska 50” office building. NDI was also involved in construction of a 152 km long section of a two-lane motorway between the Polish cities of Gdańsk and Toruń.
Balzola S.A started its activity in 1989 and as a group of 12 subsidiaries operates in all areas of construction. The company focuses on four business categories: civil works, building, industrial civil works and railway works (renovations, track maintenance, trams, metro/underground). Balzola participated in the execution of all the infrastructural works necessary for bringing into service several tram lines of the city of Bilbao and other cities of Spain. The company also conducted works on roofs and exterior closures of the Guggenheim Museum, the building icon of Bilbao designed by Frank Ghery.
The City Hall of Katowice prepared maps on which the traffic changes are charted (only Polish version):
