Wieliczka salt mine in need of more funds to prevent flood damage

Marian Lesny, director of the historic Wieliczka salt mine near Krakow, announced that the mine may be in serious danger of becoming flooded if appropriate measures are not taken soon to prevent this from happening. Under terms of legislation aimed at averting such a disaster, zl.67 million had originally been earmarked for mine maintenance. The Sejm Public Finance Commission (SKFP) decided however that zl.40 million would go toward the mine. Subsequently, an amendment was introduced making only zl.30 million available. "Maintenance cannot be effectively carried out for that amount" says Lesny. The salt mine is on UNESCO's list of world cultural and natural heritage sites. Of the 800,000 tourists that visited the mine last year half were foreigners. (Rzeczpospolita, p.A5) A.Z.