The big cleanup

The Municipal Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment Company Warsaw City (MPWiK) has selected a consortium of companies - Warbud, WTE Wassertechnik, Krüger, Veoila Water Systems and OTV SA - for the project to modernize and expand the Czajka sewage system.

The costs proposed by the consortium amount to E564 (zł.2,123) million - 20 percent higher than previously estimated. MPWiK agreed to increase the value of the contract in order to meet a 2010 deadline set by the European Commission for the completion of the investment. Time is especially of the essence, given that this was MPWiK's third tender for the contract, the previous two having failed due to a combination of too few participants and steep cost estimates.

The project still faces serious difficulties. Last Tuesday, the tender was protested by one of the other two participants, Turkish firm Sistem Yapi, which offered the lowest price, E298 (zł.1,122) million. The appeal has been forwarded to MPWiK's procurement commission, which has 10 days to make a decision. If the appeal is rejected, Yapi may protest the tender elsewhere, including court.

"There is a threat that the investment will be delayed," admitted Joanna Korzeniewska, a spokesperson for MPWiK.

The other problem which remains for the Czajka project is the continuing protests by residents of Warsaw's Choszczówka district, who claim that the incinerator plant of the treatment plant will pollute the air in the area. Despite MPWiK's assurances that the investment meets the highest ecological standards, the protestors claim they will do anything to stop the construction.

In order to be completed on time, work on the project needs to start in early 2008. If it does not, the EU funding designated for the project will be lost and MPWiK will incur a zł.1.5-billion fine and face zł.100-million penalties each year for as long as it breaches nitrogen emissions limits from the city's sewage output.

The project falls within the framework of the "Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment in Warsaw - Phase III" program, which aims to modernize sewage treatment in the capital and clean up the Vistula river. It is the largest project in Poland funded by a local government and the second largest investment backed by the EU after Warsaw's second subway line.