Bieruń today
Bieruń is an over 620 year-old-town situated in the south-eastern part of the Silesian Voivodship, in the valleys of the left bank tributaries of the Vistula river, alongside the Tychy- Oświęcim and Mysłowice- Pszczyna routes. Rivers such as the Vistula, the Przemsza, the Mleczna and the Gostynka River mark out most of the town's borders. Bieruń is situated in the direct vicinity of the Silesian agglomeration as well as routes such as the A4 motorway from Bolesławiec to Cracow, S1 expressway, DK 44 national road from Gliwice to Cracow, provincial roads from Mysłowice to Pszczyna (no. 931 and no. 934). The Bieruń municipality is located relatively near the Beskidy mountains (about 30 km in a straight line).
The distance between Bieruń and some major cities is:
- Warsaw - 312km,
- Cracow (Balice airport) - 73km,
- Katowice (Pyrzowice airport) - 52km,
- Katowice - 20km,
- Wrocław - 200km,
- Gliwice - 46km,
- Bielsko Biała - 42km,
- Pszczyna - 20km,
- Cieszyn - 75km.
The characteristic feature of Bieruń is the presence of two urban clusters - Bieruń Stary and Bieruń Nowy (the Old Bieruń and the New Bieruń) situated about 7 km from each other. Apart from the urban clusters, there are also four villages in the municipality: Ściernie, Bijasowice, Jajosty and Czarnuchowice.
Together with Lędziny, Imielin, Bojszowy and Chełm Śląski, the town of Bieruń constitutes a country district. The district office as well as most of the district departments are situated in Bieruń which is also the biggest municipality of the Bieruńsko-Lędzinski district in respect of its population, area and potential. The municipality's area is 4,067 ha and it is populated by 19,702 people. The municipality's population density is 484.4 persons/ km2.
Main sectors of the urban economy are: mining industry, dairy processing, food industry, motor industry, chemical industry, construction and agriculture. The economic significance of Bieruń has been influenced mainly by several big enterprises operating in its area, such as Danone, Nitroerg S.A., The "Piast" Coal Mine, OSM Bieruń Regional Dairy Cooperative, Johnson Controls, Auto Partner, Carbud S.A., Unitrans, Dantrans, Europack-Foil and the adjacent Fiat Auto Poland. Besides the big plants there are also over 1400 small companies operating in the municipality and dealing in: services (about 30%), trade (about 30%), construction (about 10%), transportation (about 10%), industry (about 10%) and others. The agricultural activities are also of great significance here. In the Bieruń municipality there are 200 farms breeding pigs, producing milk and growing plants (grain, corn, rape).
The Centre of Economic Initiatives (CIG), which is the seat of both the Bieruń Foundation of Business Initiatives (BFIG) as well as a number of other entities, was established in Bieruń in 2002. The foundation supports local entrepreneurs' activities. What is more, the District Police Headquarters have operated in the municipality since 2006. 70% of the construction of the police headquarters' seat, which is one of the most modern buildings of this type in Poland, was financed from the municipality's budget. The construction of the social infrastructure building, where departments of the Bieruń town hall are situated, was finished in 2007.