Siac chief has the Polish X-Factor

Everybody knows how hard it can be, on occasion, to get your message across to the right audience, but Finn Lyden of construction firm Siac has taken things a step further than most by transforming himself into a broadcaster, in Poland no less.

Siac, like fellow Irish firm Sisk, has had a bad time in the country after optimistically forming a joint venture to build a motorway there as part of a EU funding programme. Unfortunately, the €400 million project turned sour, leading Siac to cancel it and seek compensation from the Polish roads authority for its troubles. At the same time, the European Commission has frozen some €890 million in development funds for Poland, citing fears of corruption in the road-building the country desperately needs.

Enter Siac chief turned YouTube broadcaster Lyden, who has taken to the airwaves in an attack on the business of Polish motorway construction. In a video originally posted on the site of the Polish Association of Engineering Services Employers, the Siac chief describes the company's contract becoming unworkable and outlines "huge problems in the way these projects have been prepared".

In an unexpected twist, he also claims the same road projects could be built “for half the price in Ireland”, mostly because of the use of more innovative designs here. The whole affair is “a huge disaster for Poland”, claims Lyden, whose subtitled YouTube video has so far attracted some 2,000 views. It can be seen at iti.ms/10WlxIW.

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Next stop X Factor Polska?