The planned center actually stretches between the areas of four former villages near Krakow. It borders Wadow to the north, reaches almost as far as Koscielniki to the east, and the southern end stretches from Ruszcza to Branice. In each of these villages one can find former mansions, which in their heyday served as the largest employers in the area.
Blacksmiths, herbalists and craftsmen were in demand.
The manors also had ample storage space gathered around them to hold supplies.
As with other parts of the Krakow Nowa Huta Future project, a major change in the landscape in the area came after the construction of the Nowa Huta Combined Plant. The plant needed adequate facilities for transporting raw materials, hence the decision to build a huge rail siding.
Although those glory days are behind us, you can still see here how complicated it was to create such a place. Lots of tracks, shunting hills to make it easier to put wagons on the right tracks, signal boxes and a railroad water tower tower towering over the area.
Closest to the area of the Logistics and Industrial Center is Ruszcza, from which the name of this part of the project “Kraków – Nowa Huta of the Future” is taken. It was first mentioned in documents from the 13th century. It has had many interesting episodes in its history, and in addition to the historic Saint Gregory’s Church, it is also worth visiting the neighboring Popiels’ mansion. This building, unfortunately neglected in recent years, hosted, among others, the future Pope Pius XI, who stopped here for lunch.
The construction of the Logistics and Industrial Center is again expected to attract the world’s most important people to Ruszcza. They are the ones who, through their companies, can invest in the project area and create new jobs there. The planned area of the center is agricultural or post-industrial land, including land that once belonged to the Krakow steel mill. In addition to finding an investor, Kraków Nowa Huta Przyszłości S.A. also wants to prepare the area for future warehouses and factories by carrying out the necessary surveys and ordering the construction of appropriate infrastructure (including the road system).
The location of the Center, as in the case of the neighboring Science and Technology Park “Branice”, is very favorable in terms of logistics. On the one hand, at the disposal of future investors here will be a huge railroad facility. On the other hand, there is also easy access to two important national roads, both in the east-west axis (A4 highway connecting Ukraine with Germany) and north-south (S7 expressway between the international port in Gdansk and Slovakia).