Hopes to build new Warsaw metro line as a public-private partnership

The expansion of the Warsaw Metro will cost zl. 6.5 billion and should be finished by 2011, according to reports prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), CMS Cameron McKenna and WS Atkins. The envisaged costs and cons truction timetable were presented to the media by city authorities. The investment would be a public-private financed venture, with hopefully some funds coming from the European Union (EU). The President of Warsaw Wojciech Kozak believes that this proposal would reduce investment costs by 22% and running costs by 5%. Paying liabilities to the investors would take about 30 to 40 years presuming that they are paid back zl. 400 million per year. The two main options are that either private companies would only participate in the actual construction of the metro line, or a second option which would allow them to run the lines as well. Bids from interested parties will start in the second quarter of 2003 and construction should begin in 2005. (Puls Biznesu, p. 11) A.D.