Farewell 'Stadion', hello sports center

Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński, Tomasz Lipiec, the Minister of Sport, and Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, the acting Mayor of Warsaw, have announced the construction of the National Sports Center. The new facility will replace the 10th-Anniversary Stadium. It will be built by the end of 2010 at a cost of more than zł.1.2 billion

"The fact that Poland does not have such a stadium sullies our honor. A country in the EU with a population of 40 million should have such a facility," said the Prime Minister, adding that the investment will be completed thanks to Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz. "Following his own decision the capital city will get engaged in the investment," Kaczyński added.

Packed with promise

The new complex will include a national stadium with 70,000 seats, a multi-functional sports and exhibition hall for over 15,000 people, an Olympic-sized swimming pool with 4,000 seats as well as all the necessary infrastructure to host large sports events.

According to the governmental plan, the funds designated for the project will come to zł.1.23 billion. Some zł.160 million is to come from the state budget and zł.825 million from the Physical Education Development Fund. The remaining cost of zł.240 million will be covered by the City of Warsaw.

Marek Borowski, who is running against Marcinkiewicz for Mayor of Warsaw, says he wouldn't spend such a large amount from the city's budget. "Financing for projects of that type should come from the state's budget, EU funds and private investors. It's nothing but an element of the local-election campaign. The construction of a national stadium was announced by former Mayor Lech Kaczyński, and he didn't implement even one percent of the plans," Borowski said.

The bottom line

Earlier this year, the Warsaw Destination Alliance (WDA) came came up with a design for a similar complex. Alex Kloszewski, the head of WDA, says the stadium is needed especially for the Euro 2012 football championships.

"The problem is that without other elements, [including] congress, conferencing and exhibition facilities, the stadium will always lose money. It is a fact - 95 percent of national stadiums around the world are not profitable. Only when they are a part of a multi-use conferencing venue do they perform well. Marcinkiewicz and Lipiec spoke about the national stadium and the Olympic swimming facilities, but not one word about my recommendations for the other components," says Kloszewski.

Preparation works are to be launched this year, and the contracts with the current tenants of the stadium expire next year.