Lublin airport grounded as angry farmers refuse to sell up
The fiasco means that the Lubelskie voivodship could lose out on the zł.3 million it got from the state budget for the air terminal.
The proposed airport needs 270 hectares of land, which was supposed to be bought up by the end of this year. However, Gazeta Wyborcza reported that to date not a single land plot has been purchased and the local Marshal's office now says that the amount of land needed has increased by 80 hectares.
But pinning down the exact size of the airport is nearly impossible as no geometric survey of the area has yet been done, and until this survey takes place the purchase of plots will be indefinitely delayed. As a result, the zł.3 million earmarked for the development could be withdrawn, leaving Lublin high and dry. Gazeta Wyborcza reported that the management of Międzynarodowy Port Lotniczy Lublin-Niedwiada SA (Lublin-Niedwiadais International Airport) is desperately trying to renegotiate the funding terms with the Ministry of Finance. But the airport's developers face an uphill struggle, as even if they do secure the zł.3 million, it now seems this figure will not be enough to build the terminal. And then there are the farmers to deal with.
Last month Niedwiada introduced a new spatial plan, which changed agricultural land into investment plots. This meant the value of much of the land designated for the airport shot up overnight, and farmers in the area are now reluctant to sell.
"Now it is the land's owners who hold all the aces. They can dictate whatever price they wish," says Jerzy Kleczkowski, a local real-estate agency owner. One clerk in the Niedwiada gmina told Gazeta Wyborcza that farmers "have had enough of all those meetings, which end up in nothing."
Local residents claim that the lack of an airport with regular connections is seriously hampering the area's development. This latest news comes as a double-blow to the region, as Swedish furniture giant Ikea rubbished claims it was considering building a store in the town.
