Environmental road block
According to a bill signed last week by President Kwaśniewski, investments in road construction will now require the submission of a report analyzing the effects of the investment on the environment before proposed routes for the road have been approved. The decision on the location of the road will now be made by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and not the Ministry of Infrastructure, as previously.
"The investment process could be postponed for several years," news agency IAR cited the president of the All-Polish Economic Chamber of Road-building (OIGD), Wojciech Malusi, as saying. "And the result of this delay will be the loss of Union subsidies for this purpose."
Those who have already made their investments aren't out of the woods either, despite the millions of złoty already spent, as the law concerns all projects to which localization decisions have not been made. There are still quite a few such investments, including parts of the A4 highway, the A1 highway from Katowice to the Czech border, and the A2 highway between Warsaw and Łodź.
Officials at the General Directorate of National Roads and Highways (GDDKiA) have admitted that the possibility for a delay in realizing the investments and for the loss of EU funds exist, but say that they are working on a solution to the problem.
"The investment process could be postponed for several years," news agency IAR cited the president of the All-Polish Economic Chamber of Road-building (OIGD), Wojciech Malusi, as saying. "And the result of this delay will be the loss of Union subsidies for this purpose."
Those who have already made their investments aren't out of the woods either, despite the millions of złoty already spent, as the law concerns all projects to which localization decisions have not been made. There are still quite a few such investments, including parts of the A4 highway, the A1 highway from Katowice to the Czech border, and the A2 highway between Warsaw and Łodź.
Officials at the General Directorate of National Roads and Highways (GDDKiA) have admitted that the possibility for a delay in realizing the investments and for the loss of EU funds exist, but say that they are working on a solution to the problem.
