(Not) the end of the line: extending the Warsaw Metro

By Aleksander Nowacki

The long, drawn-out saga of the construction of the first Metro line in Warsaw may finally come to an end, thanks to EU funds that will co-finance the investment. In the more immediate future, however, the beginning of works on the Plac Wilsona station will be delayed at least a month due to bureaucratic obstacles.

Although the company denies it, unofficial sources claim that the technical documentation on the environmental impact of the project is incomplete because of the complication that arose when the Metro's company offices were moved from the city center to Kabaty.

The Regional Sanitary Inspectorate (WIS) has raised a number of objections to the presented documentation, claiming that it does not contain an analysis of the impact of vibrations caused by the work.

"We don't know what impact (the vibrations) are likely to have on the surrounding buildings," said Anna Tarnowska of the inspectorate. "The investor needs to make serious corrections."

The line up to Marymont station will be funded out of city coffers alone, but Metro Warszawskie president Krzysztof Celiński has revealed that structural funds from Brussels will cover 50 percent of the cost of the rest of the line.

Although European Commission representatives in Poland declined to comment on the deal, Celiński says that there is a 90-percent probability that the funds will be made available.

The cost of the investment is estimated at some E136 million (zł. 600 million). It is likely that, should the EU funds be made available, there will be a surplus of finance that could be spent on some long-awaited investments into the infrastructure surrounding the Metro. A planned underground passage from Centrum station to the regional railway has been named as one of the projects that could benefit.