By Michal Jeziorski
7 March 2007

If Poland manages to spend 27.8 billion euros from European Union subsidies wisely, in a few years Polish roads, railways, airports and sewage treatment plants might reach European standards. Warsaw and the Mazovian province in particular will see major investment in infrastructure.

Poland will have 27.8 billion euros to spend over 2007-2013 on the Infrastructure and Natural Environment program. That will be more than 40 percent of all EU subsidies. It is expected that the program will bring Polish infrastructure closer to EU standards. The money will be spent on the construction of 500 kilometers of freeways and more than 1,600 km of expressways. The missing strips of the A1 freeway to Gdańsk and Katowice will be built, and the E59 road linking Wrocław, Poznań and Szczecin will be repaired. Under the government program, over 80 Polish cities, communes and commune unions will receive money for better and more environmentally friendly sewage treatment. Also, nearly 30 will receive subsidies for better solid waste management: that is, investment in recycling. EU money will be used to modernize airports and the air control system, on railway line repairs, purchases of rolling stock and on a high-speed railway project.

EU money will also finance a crude oil pipeline from Brody to Płock. It is expected to make Poland less dependent on oil supplies from Russia.

Warsaw may also count on infrastructure improvement. Fears that the EU funds might be distributed according to political criteria have not proved true. Skeptics had expected that after Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz from the opposition Civic Platform won the mayoral elections in Warsaw, the city would not get any substantial EU funds. However, City Hall has announced that the total value of investment would be zl.19.8 billion, most of which would be funded by the EU budget.

"Transport infrastructure, municipal transportation and sewage management are the priorities among the projects in Warsaw that will be financed by EU funds over 2007-2013," said Gronkiewicz-Waltz.

The Polish capital has included numerous investment projects in the Mazovia region development program co-financed by the EU. Some of these are: construction of new metro lines (from Daszyńskiego Traffic Circle to Dworzec Wileński railway station and further, to Rembielińska station, as well as from Daszyńskiego Circle to Chrzanów station); construction of the N-S expressway from Marynarska junction to the Trasa AK junction, and construction of the Północny Bridge. Other big projects will include the construction of the Warsaw Technology Park, the first stage of modernization of the municipal waste recycling plant, and construction of the next phase of the Czajka sewage treatment plant. The city will also build new tramlines in the Tarchomin district, a tramline from the Warszawa-Zachodnia railway station to the Wilanów district, and a W-Z tramline from Wileński Cemetery to the Dworzec Wileński station. Already EU money is being used to modernize the Warsaw-Łódź railway line. This will reduce journey time from the present two-and-a-half hours to 65 minutes.

But no city can develop and prosper without a developed region. Mazovia Province Chairman Adam Struzik said that Mazovia would receive some 1.8 billion euros as part of the regional development program. "In addition, investment in the region may be financed by money from the European Social Fund-some 700 million euros-and a similar amount for rural areas," said Struzik.

The European Commission has four months to evaluate regional programs from the moment it officially receives them. EU funding will be available for projects that started in early 2007. Struzik says there is no rivalry between Warsaw and other, smaller cities in Mazovia in their efforts to attract EU funding. "There is a common interest-a competitive, well-developed Mazovia," he said.

The European Commission and the European Central Bank have opened a Warsaw office of the EU JASPERS project. Under the project, the EU helps regions in preparing regional projects that will receive EU funds. Now work is under way on 23 Polish projects, two of them concerning Mazovia.

These ambitions are feasible but only if plans for the projects are drawn up to a high standard. Also it should be remembered that in case of road construction, the preparation process takes at least three years, and construction two years. Fortunately, the process of EU fund acquisition has proceeded smoothly. Poland has managed to fully utilize the 2 billion euros of EU funding it was allocated last year.

"I'm very glad that we have not lost any of the EU funding," said Regional Development Minister Grażyna Gęsicka. "In 2006, we faced the possibility of being unable to fully utilize the subsidies, but we succeeded. It should be noted that Spain and Ireland failed to do so when they were beginning to use the funds."

Gęsicka said she had a plan to increase the influx of EU subsidies. Within two months, the Sejm will receive draft amendments to laws that at present hinder investment. The changes will concern the construction law and two laws on environmental protection. They will simplify the investment process and shorten the time needed for preparing documentation.

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