The infrastructure ministry is not happy with the reforms of the national rail carrier PKP.
The biggest problem is the division of the company which has led to a holding being created made up of several different companies.
Mieczysław Muszyński, undersecretary of state at the infrastructure ministry, has claimed that reorganisation of the PKP must continue but needs to be based on realistic economic assumptions. He claims that internal accounting procedures have not been developed. This has led to the situation where PKP owes the treasury around PLN90m for VAT payments. The best solution, he believes, is to make a complex analysis of the real state of the company.
Any changes could of course upset the workforce. Stanisław Kogut, heading the trade unions at PKP, has already threatened legal action if managing director Krzysztof Celiński is removed from his position.
The new management has until the end of next month to present a plan to the government which will include details of how it intends to collect some PLN2bn that is owing.
The government wants the PKP to pull out of some investments such as the company that makes rolling stock and to sell almost 240,000 company flats.
Losses at PKP are believed to have increased from PLN850.1m in the first half of this year to PLN1.4bn by the end of the third quarter. The government is particularly worried about suggestions that next years loss could be several hundred million PLN although the company claims it will break even in 2003.
One of the key elements in the restructuring of PKP is to issue bonds guaranteed by the treasury for PLN500m as well as long term credits such as the one proposed by the EBRD for PLN500m. The aim of this is to change short term debt for long term debt.