A river of Development
Sailing southwards down the Vistula from Gdańsk and then down the Noteć river through Bydgoszcz to Gorzów Wielkopolski towards the western part of Poland, one is awestruck by the beauty of the surrounding landscape. Nothing good, however, can be said of the infrastructure on the banks of the rivers - no marinas, no hotels or restaurants, no adjusted banks, dirty water. Now the situation could change, thanks to the Exploiting Inland Waterways for Regional Development Program (InWater) within the Baltic Sea Region Interreg III B EU Program.
Money available
"The program is a soft project within which technical analyses, concepts and spatial development plans concerning the riversides are being worked out. Once the program is finished [scheduled for December 2007] each gmina will possess a development study and will be able to apply for structural funds to finance the investments," says Aleksandra Kowalska, who coordinates the project at Bydgoszcz City Hall.
Supervised by the Gdańsk Technical University, the project has already attracted over 20 international partners throughout the whole southern Baltic Sea region. The group includes local authorities, design studios and international tourist offices.
The gminas on the rivers will cooperate to launch tourist attractions because they see a chance for their future development. Marinas are on the top of the list.
The financial manager of the project, Elżbieta Latocha-Gątarek from the Gdańsk University of Technology, says the cost of constructing one marina starts at zł.1 million. Kowalska believes that thanks to the project, a few marinas will be constructed along the river. This will attract more tourists to the region and allow for a more effective promotion of the exploitation of the inland waterways for regional development.
Out of favor
Water transport has fallen out of favor in Poland because so many rivers have been polluted by sewage and waste. Also, Poland's waterways differ drastically from one another in the ways they are developed and exploited. The degradation of the technical infrastructure of waterways and decreasing navigability have long been observed. Latocha-Gątarek says that water transport existed in the 1950s and 1960s, but now has been forgotten and doesn't seem to be a priority in the next financing period, from 2007 to 2013.
There is a chance that inland water routes will gain a higher priority. During his latest visit to Poland, Jacques Barrot, EU Commissioner for Transport, said the European Commission would help Poland to aim at well-balanced development. "It is necessary that Poland provide more options to transport goods via water or rail, in order to protect the environment and reduce the use of oil," said Barrot.
This means more money spent on revitalization of the waterways, and ultimately, the success of tourist initiatives like the one from Gdańsk to Gorzów, or maybe one day perhaps from Kaliningrad to Berlin.
