Compensation due if Yamal gas pipeline is not built

In the event that the second Yamal gas pipeline from Russia to Germany via Poland is not constructed, the Bartimpex company owned by Aleksander Gudzowaty, the main contractor of the planned investment, will earn $150 million in compensation, claims Gazeta Wyborcza. Construction of the pipeline was assumed in the Polish-Russian agreement of August 1993. In the protocol signed in February 1995 by the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) - Polish Peasants Party (PSL) coalition with the Russian government, construction of the pipeline should have started in 1998 and ended this year. According to Gazeta Wyborcza, on July 27, 2000, annex no 13 to the earlier agreement between Bartimpex with EuRoPol Gaz, the Polish-Russian company responsible for construction and utilizing the Polish part of the pipeline, was signed. In case of a breach of the agreement, 15 percent of the investment value, estimated at $150 million, would be awarded as compensation to a party that did not breach the agreement. However the construction has not started so far. After no compromise between Poland and Russia on the route of the pipeline, it is unclear when or even if the construction will start at all. (Gazeta Wyborcza, pp.1, 23), M.T.