State funds fall zl. 6 billion short for EU environmental requirements

Poland needs around zl. 6 billion to meet EU environmental requirements. According to the strategy of the National Environment Protection Fund (NFOS) resolving the problem of sewage treatment and reducing emission of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere will cost zl. 5.8 billion and even this may yet prove an optimistic estimate. Moreover, compliance will require zl. 58.5 billion in investments to be able to reach the goals agreed on with the EU, of which only a quarter will be financed by EU funds. Half of the sum will burden the local budgets of gminas and private companies. The remainder will be secured from environmental funds including NFOS. "Over the next few years we will carry out only those contracts subsidized by the EU," said NFOS spokesperson Jolanta Czudak. In the last 10 years environmental investment has shrunk by a quarter from zl. 10 billion to zl. 7.5 billion. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A5) J.K.